Kamen Rider Kurama
by BNGwarrior
Summary: Unlocking a power that has been long since lost to the world, Naruto becomes a hero that shakes the world to it's core. NarutoHarem. Warning: long chapters.
1. The Tests of a Ninja

_**Greetings true believers! No I'm not Stan Lee; I'm just imitating the Man. Anyway, I've been on a Kamen Rider fix lately so I thought I'd give it a bit of a Naruto spin on things. Just to warn you these chapters are going to be pretty long, each one is about the equivalent of one volume of the manga, or about 7 chapters.**_

_**So, on with the show!**_

**Kamen Rider Kurama**

The Tests of the Ninja

Naruto hugged Iruka, tears filling his eyes.

"Thank you so much Iruka-sensei." He said.

"Not a problem Naruto, now can you get off me?" Iruka said wincing slightly. Naruto blinked and jumped off his wounded teacher. He was about to apologize when they heard a groan.

"Damn…demon…brat," Mizuki growled, staggering towards the pair.

"You're still conscious?" asked Naruto. "I guess I didn't overdo it after all."

"I will kill you." Mizuki said and pulled out a vile. "This is the power that will let me do it." He threw his head back and drank the fluid.

"That can't be good." Naruto said, moving in front of Iruka. Mizuki's body began to twitch and spasm. His muscles grew, ripping through his cloths and he started growing orange and black stripped fur. After about a minute, Mizuki was replaced with large, bipedal tiger.

"Now, you will die Fox." Mizuki growled. Naruto meanwhile was shaking with anger and glaring at Mizuki.

"You call me a demon, and then you turn around and throw away your humanity?" Naruto growled. His glare and Naruto's tone made the tiger-man step back. "That is unforgivable!" He shouted. His coat burst open to reveal a belt with a red spiral on the buckle. Naruto grabbed the buckle and twisted it causing the spiral to spin.

"Henshin!" shouted Naruto and his body were apparently covered in flames. The flames resided to show Naruto now covered in red armor with orange markings along the collar and spirals marking on his stomach, back and shoulder with other marks going along his arms and legs. He also had a large sword on his back. The pommel of the blade looked like a skull and ribcage with femurs on both sides. . (A/N: Think something like a red version of Naruto's Kyubi Chakra Mode with orange markings. The sword is Rebellion of Devil May Cry.)

Mizuki and Iruka were both in shock at what happened to Naruto. Naruto just charged at Mizuki drawing his sword. The tiger man was just barely able to come out of his stupor as Naruto swung his sword at him. Mizuki managed to block the first three swings, but the fourth swing shattered his defense and was nailed by a barrage of stabs and a final stab sent him flying back. Naruto charged after Mizuki, blade forward, he stabbed Mizuki and slashed him into the air. Naruto followed him in the air and hit him with four slashes and slammed him down into the ground with a final slash. Naruto jumped back and resheathed his blade.

Iruka stared, slack jawed. Naruto had just unleashed a massive amount of damaging attacks upon Mizuki, who especially now was no slouch. The strength must have been amplified by that armor somehow. Not to disrespect Naruto but he was just a fresh out of the academy ninja now. So where had he gotten that armor, or for that matter that good with a sword?

Mizuki growled as he pushed himself back up. He glared at Naruto and bared his teeth.

"I'm gonna rip you apart you damn fox brat." He growled.

"You really like hearing yourself talk don't you?" Naruto asked. Mizuki roared and charged Naruto. He thrust his claw forward. Naruto ducked under the claw and slashed Mizuki's stomach and unleashed another barrage of stabs before hitting him with one final super thrust that sent him into a rock.

"Million Stab." Naruto said before he shot towards. Before the tiger man could recover, Naruto spun his sword like a buzz saw, picking him up off the ground for a second before reversing the saw and flooring him. Naruto took a step back, watching Mizuki carefully.

"If you're still alive I suggest you stay down." Naruto advised. "I don't want to kill you, but if I have to hit you with a hissatsu, I won't hesitate." He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly. Mizuki growled in response and pushed him up.

"You think you can kill me?" Mizuki demanded. He stood up and let out a thunderous roar.

"Oh yeah," Naruto said and twisted the hilt of his sword. The skull opened its mouth and the femurs shot out away from the ribs. The blade glowed dark red. "Dance Macabre!" he yelled and shot forward swinging his sword at Mizuki. The traitor didn't stand a chance as Naruto's sword cut through him like a hot knife through butter. The last two slashes lifted the tiger-man into the air and the last one sliced him clean in half, along with a couple of the trees behind him. Mizuki's eyes were widened as he collapsed in a blood heap. Naruto flicked his sword. The light faded and the pommel returned to normal. He twisted the buckle again and the armor and sword disappeared.

Naruto then ran to the pushes and emptied the contents of his stomach into a nearby bush. Iruka walked over to him and started to gently rub his back. Naruto stayed that way for a few moments before he pushed himself up.

"Was it that bad for you?" he asked. Iruka gave the boy a sad smile.

"Yeah, but my sensei helped me through it." Iruka said. "He also explained to me, that reacting like I did, like you just did, mean that we're still humans and not mindless, emotionless tools."

"And that's good, right?" Naruto asked.

"It's very good." Said an aged voice. Iruka and Naruto turned to see Hiruzen Sarutobi walking towards them.

"Lord Hokage," Iruka said.

"Hey Old Man," Naruto said weakly. Hiruzen smiled before he knelt down and pulled Naruto into a gentle hug.

"It's good that your reacted that way Naruto, it just proves just how human you really are." The aged fire shadow said. "And I'm very proud of you." Naruto smiled and returned the hug.

"Lord Hokage," Iruka said. "I know that you will need to talk to Naruto and myself about what happened tonight," the Hokage nodded. "But, would it be ok if we waited until the morning." He glanced at Naruto and the Hokage understood.

"Yes, I think it would be ok." Hiruzen said. "Naruto, I would like you to report to my office first thing in the morning, ok?"

"Sure Old Man." Naruto said. Naruto signaled his ANBU and had one of them, Dog, take Naruto home while the rest were told to clean up the mess that had once been MIzuki.

THE NEXT DAY

Naruto sat in a chair in the Hokage's office. The old Kage was smoking on his pipe and looking at Naruto.

"Naruto I know you received a big shock last night," the Hokage started.

"I already knew about the Fox." Naruto said, cutting off the Old Man.

"Y-You did?" Hiruzen asked.

"Yeah, you remember when I was 5?" asked Naruto. The Hokage frowned but nodded. It had been a particularly bad birthday for Naruto. Some villagers had found him and had actually beaten him into a coma. "Well while I was unconscious I met the Fox and my mom and dad." Hiruzen blinked again and his pipe almost fell out of his mouth.

"Yo-your parents," He gasped.

"Yeah," Naruto said with a smile. "I know I'm the son of Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage." He gave a warm smile. "You see, dad's family had, well it more like a legacy rather than a blood line. In his family are a group of warriors known as Kamen Riders. They were great and powerful men who were able to dawn special armor and be granted amazing powers to fight off all sorts of demons and monsters. But eventually with the development of chakra and ninja, the Kamen Riders kind of died out."

"So you're one of these Kamen Riders?" Hiruzen asked. Naruto nodded.

"Kamen Rider Kurama." He declared proudly.

"How?" the Hokage asked.

"Old Man, did you know that the jinchuriki for the Kyubi have all been Uzumakis?" Naruto asked. The Hokage blinked and then his eyes widened. "Guessing you never really thought about it before." Naruto said with a smile. "But because of that, combine with dad's legacy, the two powers mixed in order to give me my armor."

"What exactly does that armor give you?" Hiruzen asked.

"Well it gives me a pretty big boost in power; I can probably go head to head with a jonin easily, maybe a sannin. I can also maybe give a Kage a run for his money depending on the situation. But when I'm wearing the armor I can't use chakra. So I've just to taijutsu and kenjutsu." Naruto said thinking. "I'm not real sure, last night was the first time I actually ever used it.

"Why is that?" Hiruzen asked.

"Dad put a seal on it so that I wouldn't gain the power until I became a genin." Naruto said. "I guess when Iruka told me I had graduated; it was enough to unseal the power." He shrugged. The Hokage nodded.

"What happened to your parents?" Hiruzen asked. "And the kyubi?"

"Well, after our training, Mom and Dad just kind of, I don't know, moved on I guess." Naruto said with a shrug. "And as for Kyu, well he just went back to sleep."

"Back…to sleep?" Hizen asked.

"Yeah, I guess since he's sealed into me, he's lost a lot of energy so now all he does is sleep." Naruto smirked. "Sometimes when I'm meditating I can hear him snoring in the back of my head." The Hokage chuckled at that.

"I see." The Hokage said. "Well I am agreeing with Iruka decision that you remain a genin. From what I understand you learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu." Naruto nodded. "That is very impressive Naruto."

"Thanks Old Man." Naruto said with a big smile.

"However, I must ask you to keep your father's name quiet for a while." Hiruzen requested. "Your father made many enemies and as strong as you are with the Kurama armor," Naruto nodded.

"It's ok, I understand." Naruto said. "I wasn't planning on taking Dad's name until I made Jonin or something." Hiruzen nodded.

"Well then, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the ninja ranks Naruto." He said. Just as their meeting ended, the door burst open and some kid with a long scarf came flying in.

"It's time to fight Old Man!" The kid shouted before he tripped over his own scarf. Naruto raised an eyebrow and looked over at the Hokage who was shaking his head.

"Who's the kid?" Naruto asked, jerking his thumb at the boy. Before he could answer though, the child pointed at Naruto.

"You! You tripped me!" he accused. A tick-mark appeared on Naruto's forehead and in a flash he was holding the kid up by his scarf.

"I didn't drip you dumbass, you tripped over your own scarf!" Naruto snapped. At that moment, a man in black appeared. When he saw Naruto holding the kid, he freaked.

"Boy, put him down now!" the Man in Black demanded. "That is the Hokage's grandson." Naruto blinked, looked at the kid, and then looked over at the Hokage, who nodded. He turned back to the kid who had a smirk on his face.

"I don't care if you're the Hokage's grandmother!" Naruto declared and bopped the boy on the head. The Hokage looked indifferent, though he was trying to hide the smirk on his face. The Man in Black meanwhile was in full freak out mode.

Naruto just left the office, not registering the look the Hokage's grandson was giving him. Naruto made his way out of the tower and made his way to the shopping district, to one shop in particular: Chignon Weapon Shop; the shop run by ninja, for ninja.

"Hello, welcome to," the girl behind the counter said before seeing him. "Naruto! You graduated!" She wore a pink Chinese dress and had her hair up in a pair of buns.

"Yep, Naruto said, touching his headband. "Is your grandpa in? I want to talk to him."

"Yeah, I'll go get him." She said.

"Thanks Tenten." Naruto called. While she was in the back, Naruto glanced around at shop.

"Naruto," said an old voice. Naruto turned to see an old man with white hair in a ponytail and his white beard in a braid.

"Hey Azulong," Naruto said. "I was hoping to get some special cloths." He approached the old man, pulling out a few sheets of paper from inside his jacket. Azulong took the papers and looked through them, his eyebrows doing a little dance as he looked through them.

"You're sure you want this coat Naruto?" he asked. Naruto nodded a smirk on his face. "All right, but it's going to take me a while to make these." Naruto frowned before an idea hit him.

"Hey Old Man, do you know the shadow clone jutsu?" he asked. Tenten looked confused at her grandfather.

"Yes, though I'm only able…to…make," he trailed of as Naruto's words hit him. "Naruto, you are a genius!"

"That's what I've been telling people for years." Naruto said with a smile. "So about how long is the order gonna take?" Azulong was thinking, stroking his beard.

"I can probably get you at least one by the end of the day; probably get you a full set by the end of the week." Azulong said. Naruto smiled.

"What will I owe you?" asked Naruto.

"Well, normally something like this would cost you about 400 ryo, but for giving me that tip about the Shadow Clones, it'll only be about 150." Naruot blinked and smiled at that.

"Thanks Azulong." He said. Naruto handed over the money.

"Thank you for the tip Naruto." Azulong said. "Stop by at the end of the day for your first set." Naruto nodded and said goodbye to the pair before leaving. After the left, he noticed that a section of a nearby fence was off in sequence and had a pair of feet sticking out from under it and some black hair sticking out near the top. Naruto just chuckled and made his way to Ramen Ichiraku.

"Hey Old Man Teuchi, Ayame," Naruto said sitting down.

"Hello Naruto," Ayame said, with a smile. "The usual?"

"Make it two please." Naruto said. The pair looked at Naruto but provided him with what he asked for. Before Naruto dug in, he glanced over his shoulder. "Hey kid, this is good ramen, you don't want to eat it when it's cold." A few seconds later, the Hokage's grandson walked into the stand.

"You knew I was out there?" he asked.

"You have to make sure your disguise is perfect with where your hiding and that it covers your completely." Naruto advised. "Now eat up, this is the best ramen in Konoha, probably even the world." The Ichirakus smiled at the praise. They watched the two begin to eat with almost matching gusto.

"So Naruto, who's your little friend?" asked Teuchi. Naruto paused and looked at him.

"I never did get you name kid." Naruto admitted. "All I know is that you're the Hokage's grandson." The boy frowned and put down his chopsticks.

"My name is Konohamaru, the Old Man named me, but no one ever calls me that, it's always Honorable Grandson." The now identified Konohamaru said. "No one ever sees me for me; they just see me as the Old Man's grandson."

"What about your parents?" Ayame asked.

"They died on a mission when I was a baby." Konohamaru said. "The Old man and my uncle have taken to raising me." Naruto put his chopsticks down too.

"My parents died in the Kyubi attack, so I never knew them either." Naruto said. "The Old Man looked after me as much as he could and was sort of like a grandfather to me." He smiled at Konohamaru. "I guess this kind of makes us cousins doesn't it?" Konohamaru looked at him to process this information and then smiled. "So, why did you want to fight the Old Man?"

"To show that I'm my own man and not just my grandpa's grandson," Konohamaru said. "That's why I'm gonna be Hokage someday." Teuchi and Ayame looked at the two boys and smiled, thinking that these two were cut from the same cloth. The two of them finished their ramen and Naruto tried paying for them, but they were told it was on the house today. After thanking them, Naruto took Konohamaru to a nearby training field.

"Let me ask you something Konohamaru, have you ever actually thrown a shuriken?" asked Naruto. Konohamaru blinked but then shook his head. Naruto nodded and walked over to him. "Have you ever played cards before?" Konohamaru raised an eyebrow.

"I've played Go Fish and Old Maid with my friends." He said. Naruto nodded and pulled out a shuriken.

"Well throwing shuriken is a lot like dealing cards." Naruto explained. To demonstrate, he threw a shuriken at a nearby tree. The blade of the weapon sank into the wood. "Now you try." Konohamaru took the weapon from Naruto and looked at the tree. He threw the bladed weapon and it went wide left. "You're throwing it a little too soon." Naruto said. "Try again."

"How come you're doing this for me?" Konohamaru asked.

"Well we're cousins right, and family needs to help each other." Naruto said. "Besides, if we're gonna be rivals for being the Hokage, I want to make sure you're the best of the best." Konohamaru blinked before understanding.

"Hai Naruto-sensei." Konohamaru said and continued practicing with the shuriken. When Konohamaru's tutor, the man in black, Ebisu, showed up, Naruto sent a few shadow clones to take care of him while he moved on to teaching Konohamaru about kunai.

"Now, kunai are more for up close and personal matters. They can be used to slashing and stabbing or," he flipped the kunai around into a reverse grip, "this way can be used for defense and blocking. They are also good throwing weapons and you can wrap explosive tags to them to make throwing bombs out of them. But just throwing them should be saved for a last resort." They spent the rest of their time practicing kunai throwing, by the end, Konohamaru was able to throw it without it spinning and hit the tree.

"I think that's it for today Konohamaru." Naruto said. "Let's get you home."

"Hai Naruto-sensei," Konohamru said.

"When I'm not teaching you, it's just Naruto, ok kid?" Naruto said with a smile. Konohamaru nodded. Ebisu had finally managed to dispel Naruto's clones, but when he looked around; he saw Naruto and Konohamaru walking away. He was about to call out to them, but then got blindsided by a clone that had been hiding in the bushes.

Naruto dropped Konohamaru off at his house and also met his uncle Asuma. It was also upon the Hokage's insistence that Naruto stay for dinner. After dinner, Naruto picked up his order from Azulong. He grabbed it and went home to sleep.

_**Commercial break!**_

_Betrayed by his village and driven out of the only home he'd ever known. Uzumaki Naruto leaves the Village of Konoha and, under the advice to his teacher, finds a small village on an island._

_There he meets another young man who is also destined for greatness: Monkey D. 'Straw Hat' Luffy, a rubber man who can't swim after eating the cursed devil fruit._

_Now with new friends by his side and a new destiny spread out before him, Naruto goes from ninja to pirate in a great adventure that spans the Seven Seas and beyond._

_The King of Pirates and the Kazukukage, Chapter 1: Romance Dawn._

_**Now, back to the show!**_

The Next Next Day

Naruto work up early and looked at the clock, it was 6:30, and the team placements weren't until 8:00. He tried going back to sleep, but found that he couldn't. So he just got up and got dressed in his new cloths. Gone was the traffic cone orange, "look at me I'm over here" jumpsuit, now Naruto was sporting a dark orange shirt with the Uzumaki-spiral in black over his heart, black cargo pants with about a dozen and a half pockets, black steel tipped boots, a black coat with a nine-tailed fox on it, it's tails wrapping around the front of his coat and two on each sleeve, the ninth tail on his upper back, all the tails curled into spirals, and, his personal favorite, a red fedora styled hat with a white triangle on the brim with the kanji for fire in it. it was basically a fedora version of the Hokage's hat. He tied his headband around his neck.

Naruto grabbed himself a quick breakfast and headed out to the academy. It was still dark outside so most people weren't out yet. Naruto made his way to academy and walked into the class room where Iruka would be announcing the teams. Glancing at the wall clock, it was only 7:15. Naruto yawned; lack of sleep was catching up to him. He walked to the middle of the class room, middle seat in the middle row, kicked his boots up on the table, pulled his hat down over his eyes, and fell back asleep.

Over the next 40 minutes, other students started filing into the class room, most looked at Naruto and shrugged him off, not recognizing him. When Kiba Inuzuka walked in and looked at Naruto, he caught his sent and smiled. He didn't know how his friend got in, and he didn't care, he was just glad. Shino Aburame walked in next to Kiba and sensed Naruto's chakra through his bugs. Though the two never really hung out, Naruto and Shino each had respect for one another as both people and as ninja and Shino was glad that Naruto had passed. Shikamaru Nara glanced up at Naruto and, upon hearing his breathing, recognized Naruto instantly. The pair had shared enough naps over the years they could recognize each other in their sleep, literally. Choji Akimichi also recognized Naruto the same was Shikamaru did. He'd been around Naruto enough to know him when he was asleep. The boys each took seats around Naruto, Shikamaru and Choji behind him and Kiba and Shino in front. Hinata Hyuga was the next to enter the class room and recognize Naruto. She did so instantly with her "Naruto since." She walked over to him and contemplated sitting next to him.

"You can sit next to me if you want to." Naruto said. Hinata blinked and started to blush a bit as she sat down next to him. A few minutes later, Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka came stampeding into the room. After a lot more bickering, Sakura sat next to Sasuke Uchiha while Ino took the only available seat, which happened to be on the other side of Naruto.

"Hey Hinata," Ino said, leaning forward, "who's this?" Before Hinata could answer, Iruka called the class to attention. He did this by growing his head to the size of a small bolder and screaming "SHUT UP!" After he got everyone's attention, Iruka went into his graduation speech and then started naming off the teams.

"Team 7 will be Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki,, and Sasuke Uchiha." Iruka said. Sakura was about to scream about Naruto's absence, but the blond beat her too it.

"Iruka sensei, why am I pared up with her?" asked Naruto. Everyone turned to see Naruto bringing his feet down and pushing his had up. "I mean I get why I'm with Sasuke, best in the class with the worst in the class, but why Sakura? Why not Hinata, or at the very least Ino?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura demanded. Naruto sighed in annoyance and looked at the pink haired girl.

"I mean that Hinata is the best fighter in the class and Ino is the second most accurate kunoichi I've ever met, where as you couldn't fight your way out of a wet paper bag or hit the broad side of a barn." Many of the students were laughing, though the three mentioned girls were turning red: Hinata because her crush had praised her fighting abilities, Ino because Naruto had said such nice things about her, and Sakura was turning red because she'd just been insulted by the class dobe. He was right but her pride wouldn't let her admit that, especially since Naruto had said it.

"These are the teams approved by the Hokage Naruto." Iruka said, trying to sound professional, but the look he was giving Naruto said "I'm sorry."

"Tch," Naruto scoffed and pulled his hat back down over his eyes. After Iruka finished naming off the teams he told them that their teachers would meet them after lunch. Naruto sighed and was about to leave when he found himself surrounded by Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji.

"Uh, hey guys." Naruto said awkwardly.

"Dude, how did you graduate?"Kiba said, slapping him on the back. "Not that I'm complaining or anything."

"Well it's a bit of a story and I don't want to bore you guys." Naruto said.

"Please, please bore us." Ino said. She had given up on her Sasuke crush and was now more interested in Naruto since he had paid her a nice complement while Sasuke had never so much as given her the time of day.

"All right all right." Naruto said waving them down. "Come on; let's go eat up on the roof." Naruto then proceeded to regale them with his story of being tricked by Mizuki into stealing the Forbidden Scroll and then karmatically beating the crap out of Mizuki with the Shadow Clone Jutsu. He'd left out the parts about Mizuki telling him about the Kyubi and his using the Kurama armor. It wasn't that he didn't trust them, well mostly: he Kiba, Shikamaru, and Choji had played together since they were kids; he knew Shino was a standup guy, but he didn't know much about Hinata and couldn't be sure if Ino would go running to Sasuke about his armor. The last thing he wanted was the Uchiha Massacre Survivor on his case. He just wanted to keep those things secret unless he had to tell them.

Just as he finished his story though, he felt a pain in his stomach and excused himself to the bathroom. He sadly spent the last of his lunch break on the toilet. His milk must have gone bad on him or something. When the attack finally finished, he made his way back to the class room to wait for his teacher.

And they waited…and waited…and waited. Eventually they were the last team in the room. Sakura was trying to flirt with Sasuke while Naruto was taking another nap. Finally, the door opened and a man with gravity defying grey hair dressed in standard Konoha ninja ware for jonin with his head band covering his left eye poked his head into the room. This got everyone's attention.

"You're late!" Sakura screamed making all the guys in the room wince.

"Sorry, I got lost on the road of life." The man said. "Meet me up on the roof." The group gathered on the roof, their sensei leaning against the railing while they rest of them sat in front of him.

"Now, I'd like you to tell us a bit about your selves." The man said.

"Like what?" Sakura asked

"Oh you know, your likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies, stuff like that." The man said.

"Would you mind going first sensei?" Naruto asked.

"That's right; we don't know anything about you." Sakura agreed.

"All right." The man said. "My name is Kakashi Hatake. I don't like talking about my likes and dislikes, my dream is really none of your business, and I have a lot of hobbies." The genin all looked at him blankly, all thinking the same thing: all he told us his name. "Now, why don't we start with you on the right." He pointed at Naruto.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto said. Everyone just looked at him waiting for him to continue.

"And," Kakashi coaxed.

"Hey, trust is a two way street sensei." Naruto said. "You want to know more about me, you tell me more about you." And with that Naruto pulled his hat back over his eyes and leaned back. Everyone stared at him until it became clear he wasn't going to say anything else.

"Ok, next." He glanced at Sasuke.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha, there are plenty of things that I hate but I don't see that it matters considering there is almost nothing that I do like. It seems pointless to talk about "dreams"…that's just a word…" Sasuke said. "…but what I do have is determination. I plan to restore my clan and there is someone I have sworn…to kill." Sakura was looking at Sasuke with hearts in her eyes, Naruto was rolling his eyes behind his hat, and Kakashi narrowed his eye at the boy.

"And finally the young lady," Kakashi said.

"I'm Sakura Haruno. My favorite thing is…well it's not a thing, it's a person. A boy…and that boy is…" she said, blushing and looking over at Sasuke. "Uh…let's move on to my dream." But this just made her blush even bigger. "I hate Naruto." She declared. Everyone looked over at Naruto who's only reaction was to flip Sakura the bird. This action actually stunned Sakura into silence so Kakashi assumed that she was finished.

"Ok, well that's enough for introductions I think." Kakashi said. "Formal training will begin tomorrow: survival training."

"But we already did a lot of that in school." Sakura said.

"But you'll be surviving against me." Kakashi pointed out. "It won't be your typical practice."

"Then what kind of practice will it be?" Naruto asked pushing up the brim of his hat. He narrowed his eyes when Kakashi chuckled.

"What's so funny sensei?" Sakura asked.

"If I told you, then you'd just chicken out." Kakashi said.

"And why would we do that?" Naruto asked. Kakashi got an evil look in his eye.

"Of the 27 students that graduated in your class, only 9 will actually go on to be ninja while the other 18 returns to the academy for more training." Kakashi explained. "Which means that the test your about to take has a 66% chance of failure." Sasuke looked indifferent about the news, Sakura was freaking out, and Naruto just leaned back and pulled his hat back over his eyes.

"But what about the test we just took?" Sakura demanded.

"Oh that was just to weed out the hopeless causes from our ranks and keep the kids who actually showed some potential." Kakashi explained. "In any event, we'll meet at the training fields tomorrow so I can evaluate your skills. Bring any and all ninja weapons and equipment you have. And don't eat anything, you'll just throw it up." He handed over information sheets. "Everything is on these so don't be late." While the genin looked over the information sheets, the jonin disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto looked at the information and then got up to leave, leaving behind his two "teammates." He walked through the streets of Konoha until he came upon the Sarutobi complex. He heard the sound of metal hitting wood and followed it to find Konohamaru throwing weapons at a tall post. It had a lot of scratches on the edges, many looking fresh, but there were also a lot of dents in it showing where shuriken and/or kunai had impaled it.

"Hey, Konohamaru," Naruto said, getting the boy's attention. He stopped his throwing and turned to smile at the blond.

"Naurto-sensei!" he cried happily. "Nice cloths."

"Thanks kid, though since I was a real ninja now I should look more professional." Naruto said. "You've been practicing."

"Yeah, check this out." Konohamaru said and threw five shuriken and five kunai at the post. All of the shuriken dug into the wood and so did 3 of the kunai.

"Nice work." Naruto said.

"It is pretty good isn't it?" Asuma said, a cigarette hanging from his mouth.

"Hey Asuma, how's your new team?" asked Naruto.

"Eh, they're ok, a little rough around the edges but what can you do?" he said with a shrug. "What about yours?"

"The Emo king of Konoha, his number-one fan girl, and apparently a teacher who tends to be really tardy," Naruto listed off.

"Kakashi huh?" Asuma said. "Fair warning, he tends to be about 2 and half hours late to anything that isn't real serious."

"Thanks for the tip." Naruto said. "Hey you got any targets or anything around here?" Asuma stroked his beard before nodding and disappeared back into the house.

"All right Konohamru," Naruto said, kneeling down to eye level with the boy. "When your uncle gets back, we're going to work on your accuracy. It looks like you've gotten throwing the weapons down pretty well, so now we're going to work on making them fly where you want to go."

"Right Naruto-sensei," Konohamaru said, snapping into a salute. Naruto smiled at the boy and ruffled his hair.

"Also, I wanted to tell you that there might be a chance that I won't be around so much to train you. It depends on if I pass my test tomorrow." Konohamaru looked sad but smiled.

"That's ok Naruto, I'm gonna be starting the academy soon anyway." He said.

"Do you know who your teacher is going to be?" asked Naruto.

"I was planning on putting him with Iruka." The Hokage said, walking into the clearing, with Asuma, who was holding the target board. Naruto smiled and turned back to Konohamru.

"Konohamru, I want you to listen to what Iruka-sensei will have to say." Naruto said. "His lectures may put you to sleep, but he's a good teacher." An evil smile crossed Naruto's features. "But that doesn't mean you can't mess with him a bit, feel free to drive him a little crazy." Hiruzen gave a low chuckle at that.

"Naruto, you're not trying to corrupt my grandson now are you?" he asked.

"Me Old Man, no, never." Naruto said trying to sound as innocent as possible. The rest of the day was spent helping Konohamaru with his accuracy.

The Next Next Next Day

Kakashi walked up to training ground 7 with a smile on his face.

"Good morning class." He said pleasantly.

"You're late!" Sakura and Sasuke shouted at him. Kakashi eye smiled and noticed that Naruto was leaning against a tree munching on a carrot stick.

"Sorry, I was helping this little old lady with her groceries." Kakashi said. "Now, I've set this clock to go off at noon." He said and placed an alarm clock on a nearby stump. "And here I have two bells. The object of his exercise is to get these bells from me before the timer goes off. If you don't then you'll be tied to one of those stumps and have to watch me eat it in front of you." He tapped the bells together so that they dinged. "And to pass you just need one bell…apiece. Anyone who doesn't get a bell gets tied up, goes hungry, and then is sent back to the academy." Sakura and Sasuke looked nervous. Naruto meanwhile just finished his carrot stick. "You can use anything you like. And come at me with the intent to kill or else you won't stand a chance."

"But sensei, that's dangerous!" Sakura shouted. Naruto just rolled his eyes.

"Come on Sakura, this guy is an elite jonin, a former ANBU captain, veteran of the third shinobi world war, and a student of the legendary fourth Hokage." Naruto said annoyed. "We'd be lucky to even scratch him." Sakura and Sasuke were looking at him stunned while Kakashi was impressed. "What, I did my homework yesterday. I also happen to know that he's a porn addict and is chronically tardy by about two and a half hours unless it's important."

"All right that's enough of that." Kakashi said quickly. "I don't know about the other two, but I think I'm starting to like you kid." Kakashi said. "Now, ready…set…go!" The four ninja disappeared in blurs of movement.

Kakashi stood in the field looking around. He had to admit those kids were pretty good at stealth, they'd hidden themselves well. He could still since their chakra, but he was a jonin after all.

"Hey, Kakashi sensei," Naruto said, walking into the clearing.

"Naruto, you know it would be better to sneak up on me right?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, but I already know the meaning behind the test and I can tell you that it'll be a failure," Naruto said.

"Oh really?" said Kakashi.

"Yeah, I'll explain later." Naruto said with a wave of his hand. "I was wondering if you would spare with me real fast, I'd like to see how my skills stack up against a real ninja." Kakashi looked at the boy and gave him an eye smile.

"Sure Naruto, show me what you can do." He said. Naruto smiled and crossed his fingers.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" shouted Naruto and the field was quickly filled with thousands of Narutos.

_Shadow Clones, I heard that he used this jutsu to beat Mizuki, let's just see how he uses it._ Kakashi though. His other two students were having other thoughts.

_Those are flesh and blood, what technique is __that__?_ Sakura asked. _First he talks back to __me__, then he flips me off, and now he pulls out a technique like this? What happened?_

_Where did this dobe learn a move like that?_ Sasuke seethed. _A technique like that should be known by an Uchiha, not some no clan orphan loser._

The clones all charged at Kakashi. The first one that got there used a one-two punch that was quickly blocked and then Kakashi had to block one coming in with a rising knee. He almost missed the one above him attacking with a double hammer fist, but managed to jump out of the way just as a fourth clone vaulted over the previous clone and landed a kick to Kakashi's chest. The fourth clone jumped over the fifth's back and hit Kakashi twice in the head with a spinning bicycle kick. Then the two clones each kicked Kakashi in the chest and jumped off, sending him skidding back.

_An interesting tactic, _Kakashi thought. _He's using the advantage of numbers to try and keep my off guard._ Kakashi thought._ Basically he's using a small army to fight a single opponent. Given the situation, that's rather clever._

Kakashi didn't get much time to relax as another clone came charging at him with an uppercut that changed into a flip kick. Kakashi jumped into the air to avoid the attack and twisted in midair to avoid the jumping kick from the next clone.

_When did Naruto get this good?_ Sakura wondered again from her hiding place. _He never won any of the matches back at the academy. Hell, he never even learned the academy style of taijutsu._

As soon as Kakashi landed, yet another clone came charging forward and unleashed a series of blows at him. He was so distracted he almost didn't notice the one coming in and was forced to replace himself with one of the clones before it got kicked in the jaw and sent flying.

_Where? _Sasuke thought in rage. _Where did he get all this strength, __I__ need that power so that I can finally kill __him__!_

Where Kakashi had appeared after switching with the clone, another Naruto came sliding into him, trying to knock him off balance. At the same time another attacked from the sky with a diving punch. Kakashi grabbed the clone by the arm and swung him around to intercept the one that had been coming in with a spinning ax kick.

"Not bad Naruto." Kakashi said. "But it's going to take more than that to defeat me."

"Good thing that's not all I've got!" One of the Narutos shouted as it an a partner jumped into the air, flying at Kakashi. The two Narutos spun each other around, each trying to hit Kakashi before he grabbed them and threw them towards two more clones that were trying to ambush him.

From the smoke the clones created after they dispersed, two more clones came charging forward and Kakashi was forced to fend them off. However, he didn't notice that they were leading him right into the waiting arms of a third Naruto who grabbed him around the waist.

Caught off guard, Kakashi was swung around into the kick of a waiting clone that sent Kakashi air born while the clone that had swung him flipped up into the air and hit him in the face with an ax kick that sent him flying strait into the ground.

Sakura and Sasuke were shocked, to say the least. Naruto Uzumaki, the student considered by most to be least likely to succeed as a ninja had just landed a good strong blow against a jonin, and a pretty damn good one if the résumé Naruto had said was to be believed. Kakashi sat up, rubbing his head. He had to admit, Naruto was pretty good in a fight like this. He lacked any kind of style, but he could clearly hold his own in an all-out brawl.

He was pulled out of his thoughts at the sight of a pair of windmill shuriken coming at him. He was able to block the blades with a pair of kunai but wasn't expecting them to turn into more clones of Naruto. They'd managed to get a couple of glancing blows before Kakashi crashed their skulls together, forcing them to disappear in puffs of smoke.

From that smoke, burst three clones that slid kicked Kakashi into the air where a couple hundred Narutos started flying at him. It took Kakashi everything to dodge and redirect the clones. When he spotted two remaining Narutos come flying at him, he flipped himself over their heads.

As soon as he hit the ground through, he noticed the growing shadows closing in on him. His eye widened as the air-born Narutos came down to dog pile him. But Naruto clearly wasn't done yet, one Naruto started to pull out the others, with Kakashi at the end of the chain. Naruto swung the string of clones and one teacher around like a lasso before slamming them into the ground.

The clones all disappeared, leaving only the Naruto that had been on the throwing end of the chain panting slightly. And then a second after the smoke cleared, Kakashi himself disappeared. Naruto blinked and hung his head.

"When did you switch yourself out with a shadow clone?" he asked. Kakashi appeared behind him, leaning against a tree and reading through a little orange book.

"Oh about the time I switched with one of your clones to save myself from getting nailed by that kick." Kakashi said off handedly.

"So you created a shadow clone and had it switch with one of my clones while you switched with a rock or something in the area?" asked Naruto in defeat.

"Yep," Kakashi confirmed, turning the page. "Though I have to say you're fighting style is," Kakashi was suddenly cut off as wave of shuriken nailed him in the head. Or at least that's what it looked like. A puff of smoke later showed a plank of wood with the shuriken buried in it.

"Thanks a lot Sasuke," Naruto grumbled. Shrugging, Naruto walked over to the posts with plans on studying the backs of his eyelids. At least that was the plan until he noticed the stone that was behind the posts.

Curiosity getting the better of him, Naruto examined the stone and started examining the stone. It appeared to be covered with various names.

"Obito Uchiha, probably one of Sasuke's relatives." He muttered to himself and continued looking. "Kyuga Aburame, hang on, didn't Shino have an uncle named Kyuga?" Naruto kept looking through the stone until he came across another name that he recognized: Okami Inuzuka, Kiba's father. That was when the meaning of this stone hit home for Naruto.

He heard Sakura's scream, but ignored it. He'd just made a surprising discovery, Kakashi probably wouldn't do anything to extreme during the test, and Naruto's crush on her had all been part of an act. Naruto pulled out a pencil and some paper and started examining the stone. Whenever he was lucky enough to find the name Uzumaki or Namikaze, he would rub the pencil across the paper and get the name onto the paper. By the time he finished, Kakashi had appeared up on the stumps.

"Yo," he said lazily, making Naruto jump. "You shouldn't let your guard down, even during a test."

"Right, sorry," Naruto said, "I just got so engrossed on this stone," Kakashi walked over next to him.

"See anyone you know?" he asked.

"A friend's dad, and I think another one's uncle." Naruto said. "And, maybe some family." He showed Kakashi the paper.

"Namikaze?" asked the cycloptic jonin.

"Yeah, I know who my dad was," Naruto said. "Dog." Kakashi's eye widened and Naruto smiled.

"You're not as dumb as you acted during the academy are you?" Kakashi asked.

"Nah," Naruto said. "I just played the fool during the academy to keep certain undersireables off my back." Kakashi nodded. The pair heard another scream and glanced out at the field.

"Jeeze Kakashi, what did you do to Sakura and Sasuke?" asked Naruto.

"Well I put Sakura under a genjutsu that showed Sasuke beaten, battered, broken, and within an inch of his life. She fainted." Kakashi said. "Sasuke actually surprised me, he managed to get his fingers on one of the bells and launch a fireball jutsu at me." Naruto blinked in surprise.

"Sasuke actually knows the Fireball Jutsu?" he asked and let out a low whistle, maybe Sasuke actually had some legitimate skills after all.

"Yes," Kakashi confirmed, "but in the end I buried him up to his neck with my headhunter jutsu."

"That explains why Sakura just screamed," Naruto said. "She probably saw Sasuke's 'severed' head. Probably fainted again,"

"They've really lowered the standards of being a ninja since my time." Kakashi said shaking his head. "By the way, I've got a little critique of your fighting style." Naruto gave the jonin his full attention. "You don't have any form of style what-so-ever. Your main fighting strategy was to attack me with multiple numbers and try and catch me off guard, which you actually did a few times. Also, what was that trick you did with the windmill shuriken?"

"Oh that? I call it the demon wind bomb." Naruto explained. "I use the Transformations Jutsu to turn myself and one of my Shadow Clones into the shuriken and have another clone throw us. While the enemy is expecting to have to deal with a pair of shuriken, instead they have to fight of a pair of me."

"Very ingenious Naruto," Kakashi praised. The timer went off. "Times up,"

"Looks like," Naruto agreed. The pair waited for Sakura and Sasuke to arrive. About 10 minutes later, the three ninja hopefuls were standing in front of the posts and Kakashi stood in front of them. Sakura and Sasuke's stomachs were growling while Naruto just looked a little bored.

"Now, I have an announcement about your examination." Kakashi said. "None of you have to worry about going back to the ninja academy." Sakura looked stunned, Sasuke just have his signature grunts, while Naruto raised his eyebrow at him. "Because all of you are so hopeless that any further training would be pointless. None of you will ever be shinobi!"

**To be continued…**

_**So what do you all think? My original idea for a Naruto/Kamen Rider cross over was going to be more of a Naruto version of Kamen Rider W, but I couldn't decide how to do it so I just went with this instead.**_

_**Please Read and Review.**_


	2. The Worst Client

_**OK, time for the next chapter, and again, it's a bit of a doozy to read. But I like how it's going. And seriously people, shoot me some reviews just so I know I'm not writing this for my own amusement.**_

_**And now, fan mail:**_

_**red neo ranger: glad u love it, I'll keep 'em coming when I can.**_

_**JJB88: thanks**_

_**Leaf Ranger: It's gonna be a small harem and it'll be pretty mapped out in this chapter.**_

_**Dragon Man 180: I didn't give Naruto a Rider Kick style finisher because I've base Kamen Rider Kurama's fighting style mostly off of Dante of Devil May Cry. Think of Dance Macabre as Den-O's hissastu attack and I'm not sure if I'll give him a bike or not yet, but if I do, we are on the same page about design.**_

_**Sizuka Taiyou: I hope I meet your expectations.**_

_**I didn't say it last time so I'm saying it now: I don't own a damn thing and I make no money from this.**_

**Kamen Rider Kurama**

The Worst Client

"Give it up." Kakashi said. "Not one of the three of you will ever be ninja." Sakura was stunned into silence, Sasuke was gritting his teeth and Naruto was, surprisingly, quiet.

"Wh-why?" Sakura asked. "Why should we quit?"

"Because none of you have what it takes." Kakashi declared. Sasuke growled and shot towards Kakashi.

"Sasuke!" Sakura said while Naruto was shaking his head. A split second, Kakashi was sitting on Sasuke. "Don't step on him!" Sakura screeched. Naruto meanwhile had doubled over laughing.

"Do you think the life of a ninja is an easy one?" Kakashi demanded. "Did you ever think about why you were placed into squads?"

"Um, excuse me?" Sakura said. Naruto face palmed and dragged his hand down his face.

"And you're the smartest in our class?" Naruto asked. "Ninja are always put into teams of three or four when on missions. The point of this test was to see if any of us could work as a _team_." He looked between Sakura and Sasuke. "If you two had actually listened to me when I suggested coming together to form a plan, it would probably be a different conversation right now."

"You suggested teaming up against me?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, I sent a Shadow Clone to both of them," Naruto said. "And their words were quote," he pointed at Sasuke, still under Kakashi, "Stay out of my way dobe, I can handle him." He moved his finger to Sakura. "Go away Naruto and make sure you stay out of Sasuke's way."

"Well if this test was about teamwork, then why did Kakashi-sensei pit us against each other?" Sakura demanded red in the face and trying to regain her pride. Naruto blinked and turned to his teacher.

"I couldn't quite figure that one out." He admitted.

"The test was meant to breed competition and discord amongst you." Kakashi explained. "It was supposed to show which one of you was willing to put aside their personal interests for the betterment of the unit."

"Oh, so it was like seeing which one of us was willing to be the decoy so that the others could get away." Naruto said. Kakashi nodded.

"But instead of doing that, you Sakura completely ignored Naruto and focused solely on Sasuke." Kakashi lectured. "And you Sasuke decided that Naruto and Sakura would only get in the way you decided to try and fight me on your own."

"And me?" asked Naruto.

"You Naruto seemed to understand the test." Kakashi said. "Though I have to ask, why did you decide to try and fight me head on?"

"When it was clear that Sasuke and Sakura weren't going to work with me, I decided to test myself." Naruto explained. "I figured out that I keep the memories of my Shadow Clones so I figured I'd fight a real ninja to figure out my flaws."

"Is that the reason you created a small army?" Kakashi asked.

"That," Naruto admitted. "And I figured a small army was the best way to at least stand a chance against you." Kakashi nodded.

"While it is important for a ninja to have individual skills, it is even more important to know how to work with others, that way something like this might not happen." Kakashi said, drawing a kunai. "Naruto, kill Sakura now or else Sasuke dies!" Naruto moved his hand to his shuriken holster and Sakura stiffened.

"I've got a better idea." Naruto said, throwing a shuriken at Kakashi. He moved his head to let the weapon fly past his head, but heard the poof. Another Shadow Clone appeared, holding a kunai to Kakashi's eye. "Let Sasuke go, and you get to keep your other eye." Kakashi caught the glint of metal near his eye. Kakashi tested Naruto by moving his kunai closer to Sasuke's throat and saw Naruto's move closer to his eye. Kakashi stood up and raised his hand. When he was off Sasuke the clone dispelled itself.

"The day could come when of you may be taken hostage and you're forced to make a choice. When you are on a mission, your lives will always be on the line." Kakashi said, slipping back into lecture mode and approaching the stone. "The names carved into this stone belong to some of the greatest heroes of our village." Naruto removed his hat while the others looked on, slightly confused. "These are the names of the heroes that died in the line of duty. It holds the names of my best friends." Sakura and Sasuke looked stunned. "If you wish to continue, eat one of those bento boxes and prepare for a much, _much_ harder test." And with that Kakashi disappeared.

As the smoke cleared, Naruto put his hat back on and started to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Sasuke asked.

"I've got this kid I'm helping to become a great ninja, I think I'll swing by to help him out some more." Naruto said. "Because until you learn to pull your head out of your ass Sasuke and Sakura takes off her Sasuke blinders, this team is doomed to fail each and every time." He turned away from them. "Maybe next time I'll get teammates who are actually willing to work with me." He walked away from the pair. When he was out of their line of sight and out of earshot, he stopped. "Any last words of advice Kakashi sensei?" he asked. Kakashi looked down at him from the tree he was sitting in.

"Just this," Kakashi said. "In a ninja's world, those who violate the rules and fail to follow orders are lower than garbage. But those who do not care and support their fellows are even lower than that."

"Good advice," Naruto said. "And if I'm ever pared up again with Sakura or Sasuke on a mission, I would do whatever it took to make sure them and anyone else we work with gets home safe and in one piece. But until then I've got my own student to teach." He started walking and for a second, Kakashi though he was watching Minato Namikaze and not Naruto Uzumaki.

Later, during the meeting of the jonins about their teams, only two squads, squad 8 and 10 passed. Many present were stunned that squad 7 failed and were quick to blame Naruto.

"Naruto had nothing to do with the failing of Squad 7." Kakashi said, stunning everyone into silence. "If anything, Naruto was the only one who understood the meaning of my test."

"What do you mean Kakashi?" asked one of the jonin.

"Lord Hokage, would you mind showing my exam?" Kakashi asked. Hiruzen nodded and using his crystal ball showed everyone the test of Squad 7. From Naruto's sparing match with Kakashi to Naruto walking away from Sasuke and Sakura, everyone was stunned.

"_That_ was Naruto?" said one of the jonins.

"Lord Hokage, while I do not wish to take Sakura and Sasuke, I would like to take on Naruto Uzumaki as my student." Kakashi said.

"And why is that?" the Hokage asked.

"Sasuke needs to learn to trust and work with others and Sakura needs training in, well, everything." Kakashi said. "But I believe that Naruto has so much untapped potential. He's like a diamond in the rough; he just needs a little polishing." The Hokage stroked his beard.

"Kakashi, meet me in my office." He said. "The rest of you are dismissed." The room was suddenly filled with smoke as every ninja in the room disappeared. Kakashi and the Hokage appeared in the Hokage's office. "I have decided to accept your request Kakashi." He said.

"Why couldn't you have said that in the meeting room?" Kakashi asked.

"Because I wanted to speak to you in private," Hiruzen said. "You know about Naruto's heritage right?"

"Minato-sensei was like a father to me." Kakashi said. "If I couldn't recognize his son, then I wouldn't deserve eyes."

"Then tell me Kakashi," Hiruzen said. "Have you ever heard of a Kamen Rider?"

Naruto and Konohamaru sat at Ichiraku's. Konohamaru was sporting a few light bruises.

"You're ok in a fight, but we'll have to find you someone with some actual style, probably the Old Man or Asuma." Naruto said.

"Why do I need style Naruto?" Konohamaru asked.

"Because a ninja with style will always beat a ninja with none," Naruto explained. "They'll know how to flow around and threw attacks as oppose to a fighter like me who's only way of fighting is to just keep hitting the other guy until he stops getting up."

"You sound like you speak from experience Naruto." The Hokage said, walking into the stand with Kakashi.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, Old Man, pull up a seat." Naruto offered.

"What brings the two of you here?" Teuchi asked.

"Actually, we're here to see Naruto." Kakashi said.

"Whatever it is, I didn't do it." Naruto said quickly. The group chuckled.

"Actually Naruto," Hiruzen said. "We're here because Kakashi would like to take you on as his student."

"Old Man says what now?" Naruto asked, surprised.

"It's true Naruto." Kakashi said. "Sasuke needs a bit more refining and Sakura needs a _lot_ more training, but I think you have what it takes to be a proper ninja."

"But what about all that teamwork stuff?" asked Naruto.

"You more than know the meaning and importance of teamwork. Even during our sparing match, you were always fighting with at least 2 of you." Kakashi said. "And you'll be something of a floater ninja. Whenever another genin team is in need of an extra set of hands for whatever reason, they will come to you." Naruto nodded in understanding.

"So Naruto, will you accept to being Kakashi's student?" the Hokage asked.

"Heck yeah I'll be Kakashi's student." Naruto said with a smile. Kakashi eye-smiled back at him.

"Then meet me tomorrow at the same training grounds." He said.

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said.

ONE MONTH LATER

Over the past month a lot of things happened between Naruto and Kakashi. One of things was that every time Kakashi was late for a training session, the next day Naruto was twice as late. And by the end of their first month, Naruto had done something that only the Hokage had ever come close to doing: he got Kakashi Hatake to arrive on time for an appointment.

Of course, when they weren't having a "who's latest" contest, they actually got some training in. Kakashi taught Naruto various chakra control skills and tried to refine his taijutsu, the key word being _tried._ Naruto was just a brawler by nature. So Kakashi just tried to refine that brawler nature.

Kakashi also worked to help Naruto in his worst field: chakra control. He started by having Naruto walk up a tree using chakra control. It took him roughly a week and a half, but he got it done. After that Kakashi had Naruto work on water walking, and did light sparing with him on the trees.

On their first day of training, Kakashi also reviled that the Hokage had reviled to him the existence of the Kamen Rider Kurama armor. When Kakashi asked why he didn't use the armor during the bell test, Naruto gave a simple answer: "You were testing the skills of Naruto Uzumaki, not Kamen Rider Kurama."

From about 1 to 5 on the weekdays, Kakashi and Naruto would take on D-rank missions, or as Naruto called them, "chores that the lazy-ass villagers wouldn't do themselves." With Naruto using his Shadow Clone Jutsu, the missions were relatively easy to get done. But at the end of the first month, Naruto had had enough.

Naruto and Kakashi had just returned from catching the Tora, the cat of the Fire Daimyo's wife. After catching the fur ball, Naruto was starting to see why the Inuzuka clan were dog people.

"Hey Old Man, as usefully as these D-Rank Missions are for my income, don't you have anything more, I don't know, ninja-worthy?"

"Naruto, you are still a rookie ninja who's only been out of the academy for a month." Iruka said. "You're not ready yet for anything higher than a D-rank. Besides, you're by yourself out there. Shadow Clones _don't_ count as teammates."

"Well what about the other graduates?" Naruto asked. "I know I'm not the only one who actually became a genin. What if you team me up with one, or two of those teams for something like a D-rank that takes place outside the village or something?" The Hokage stroked his beard in thought.

"Iruka," he said. "How many missions have the other teams preformed?" Iruka blinked and started looking through his scroll.

"Both teams have performed enough D-Ranks to each preform a low C-Rank mission." Iruka said.

"Very well," The Hokage said, he signaled one of his ANBU who appeared. "Please collect Squads 8 and 10 and have them report to me please."

"Yes Lord Hokage." The ANBU said and disappeared. "Based upon your argument Naruto, I am agreeing with your request." Naruto, Kakashi, and Iruka all blinked in surprise.

"Really?" asked Naruto. "I honestly wasn't expecting you to say yes." Everyone chuckled at that. They waited about 15 minutes before Squads 8, consisting of Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Hinata Hyuga, led by Kurenai Yuhi, and Squad 10, consisting of Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi led by Asuma Sarutobi, walked into the mission room. The Hokage quickly briefed them of the situation, their reactions ranging from Kiba's "Yahoo!" to Shikamaru's "Yare yare daze,"

"All right, now that everyone is brought up to speed, please show in the client." The Hokage called. The door opened to reveal a potbellied old man with a rope tied around his head and a bottle of alcohol in his hand.

"These kids are supposed to be protecting me?" the client asked. "They look more like a bunch of snot nosed kids, especially the short one in the hat." Naruto let out an involuntary growl.

"Like us or not you Old Drunk, we're your protection so either take it or leave it." he said crossing his arms. "And bear in mind that your bodyguards consist of 6 clan heirs and the 6th Hokage," Naruto said, but added "Hopefully," in a whisper. "And on top of that, you've got 3 elite jonin's coming with you; so quite frankly, you've got nothing to complain about." The three squads all stood tall and proud in the light of Naruto's glowing recommendations, the drunk however was still unimpressed.

"I am Tazuna, the bridge builder of ultimate renown." He introduced himself. "Until I'm back in my home country, where I'm completing my latest project, you'll all be expected to protect me, even if it costs you your lives."

An hour later, the group of 14 stood at the gates of Konoha. Naruto was looking around and fidgeting slightly, almost as much as Hinata.

"Naruto, Hinata, is everything ok?" Ino asked.

"Yeah it's fine Ino," Naruto said with his signature foxy smile that made the 2 girls go red in the face. "This is just my first time outside the village; I guess I'm a little nervous.

"S-Same," Hinata said, though everyone but Naruto and Tazuna caught the look she was giving Naruto and knew the real reason she was nervous.

"Am I really supposed to trust this bunch of kids to protect me?" Tazuna asked.

"Even though they're all young, they are also strong in their own rights." Kakashi said. "And the three of us are elite ninja and we'll be coming too."

"Let's get going." Kurenai said.

"Just a second Kurenai-sensei," Naruto said, kneeling down and drawing in the dirt. "Kiba, Choji, you guys and I are the powerhouses in this group so we'll take point. Hinata, Shikamaru, Asuma-sensei, you guys stay in the middle with Tazuna. Kakashi-sensei, Kurenai-sensei, Ino, and Shino will hang back in the back with ranged weapons as needed." Naruto looked up at everyone who was looking at him impressed. "Any objections?"

"Just one question," Shikamaru said. "When did you get this…good with strategy?" Naruto smiled.

"Come on Shika, if anyone knows about hidden genius, it should be you." He said standing up and brushing his hands off. "So if there are no objections to this plan, shall we get going?" the group got into the formation that Naruto suggested and were soon on their way.

The genin spent the time catching up with their old friends and swapping stories of their training of the past month. When they passed a puddle on the nearby road, it went unnoticed by most. The only ones who did notice it were Naruto, Shikamaru, all the members of Squad 8, and the jonin. They just kept walking along, and didn't notice the figure in the gas mask rise up from the puddle. He threw another person that was attached to the chain on his gauntlet. Asuma saw the pair coming and quickly pulled Shino and Ino out of the way before he Kakashi and Kurenai were wrapped up in the chain.

"3 down," One of them hissed as the two of them pulled, butchering the jonins.

"And 7 to go." The other one said.

Naruto was the first to recover from what he saw and sprang into action. He threw a shuriken and kunai at the chain. The shuriken pinned it to the tree while the kunai held it in place. He landed against the three and kicked off; creating a shadow clone. Both Narutos hit the enemy ninjas with flying sidekicks that broke them off of their chains.

"Guys pick a ninja!" he shouted at the others. Shino and Shikamaru were the first to run forward. Shino called forth a swarm of bugs that raised his opponent into the air. Shikamaru did a bicycle kick by kicking off his enemy's chest and threw an explosive kunai at him for good measure. Hinata and Ino jumped off their respective teammate's shoulders up to the enemy. Hinata became a whirlwind, striking her opponent with her Gentle Fist style until she just pushed him to the ground. While Ino unleashed her own powerful combo and finished with an axe-kick. The two ninja crashed to the ground right in front of Kiba and Choji.

"Let's go Akamaru." Kiba said, making a few hand seals. "Man-Beast Clone! Four Legs Jutsu!" in a cloud of smoke, 2 feral looking Kibas were growling at the ninja.

"My turn!" Choji shouted making his own hand signs. "Expansion Jutsu!" His stomach expanded to the size of a small bolder. The two ninja charged at the weakened, shakily getting back up ninja.

"Fang over Fang/Human Bolder!" Kiba and Choji, respectively, cried out. Kiba and Akamaru had become a pair of giant rotating drills while Choji had become, well, a human bolder. The two sandwiched the ninja between them and when they were done, their opponents were soundly beaten. Naruto stood over the defeated ninja.

"So do you want to interrogate the prisoners?" he called over his shoulder. "Or do we have to do that too?" the Jonin appeared behind Naruto, each one glowing with pride. Several of the others were happily surprised to see their teachers and looked over at where they'd been slaughtered. The only thing there was a bunch of logs.

"A substitution jutsu," Shikamaru whispered.

"We'll handle that Naruto." Asuma said. "Very impressive all of you." The genin all smiled.

"No one got scratched did they?" Kurenai asked. "It looks like these claws are poisoned." The genin all checked themselves, but they were fine.

"Looks like we're all good sensei," Kiba said, giving her thumbs up.

"To take on 2 chunin level ninjas and walk away without a scratch." Kakashi said. "You've trained you kids well."

"What about you Kakashi?" Asuma said.

"I've trained Naruto well enough for the past month, but most of it is just natural talent." Kakashi admitted. The three senior ninja stood around the captured enemies. "The Demon Brothers, renegades from Kiri." Kurenai knelt down in front of them.

"You're going to tell us who you're after and why." She ordered.

"We're not telling you anything bitch." One of the demon brothers growled.

"What makes you think you have a choice?" Asuma said. He nodded to Kurenai who put up a genjutsu around them that blocked them from view of their students.

"Can you see what they're doing in there?" Naruto asked Hinata. A pair of screams filled the air. "Actually, I don't want to know. That was some awesome teamwork by the way guys."

"According to Asuma sensei, it was just a basic three man combo attack." Ino said. "You don't know it?"

"I'm kind of flying solo here remember." Naruto pointed out.

"Where are Sasuke and Sakura?" asked Shino.

"Kakashi sensei said that they needed more training before they were ready to be ninja, but apparently I'm good enough to go." Naruto explained. The jonin came out of the genjutsu with serious expressions.

"Tazuna, we need to talk." Kakashi said. "You were the ones that these two were after. And I think you knew it."

"I-I," Tazuna stuttered.

"To deal with enemy ninja takes this far beyond a simple C-Rank where we would only need to deal with bandits and the like." Kurenai said.

"If we're fighting enemy ninja, this mission is easily a B or even an A rank mission." Asuma said. "If we wanted to, we would be fully within our right to just walk away."

"No please!" Tazuna shouted and dropped to his knees. "Please, my home in Wave is a poor country. We have been ever since we fell under the mercy of Gato. That's why I paid for a C-Rank; it was all I could afford."

"Gato?" Hinata asked. "The shipping mogul?"

"That's his cover." Tazuna said. "He's nothing but a thug and a murderer. He controls everything that goes in and out of the ports. If I were to complete my bridge, we could finally be free of Gato's control." The Jonin all looked deep in thought. "Please I beg of you, for the sake of my people, please help me." Tears were beginning to well up in his eyes.

"I say we keep going." Naruto said. Everyone looked at him. "I don't know about you guys, but knowing all that, if we were to walk away, I wouldn't be able to look myself in the mirror."

"But you're still all too new Naruto." Kurenai said, trying to reason with him.

"Then couldn't we just call for some back up?" asked Naruto. "Either way, even if I have to go alone, I'm finishing this mission." Tazuna was smiling, the fellow genin were looking impressed, and the jonin knew that there would be no way to convince Naruto to just let this go. "And the Old Drunk _will _pay us the difference when he and the rest of Wave get the necessary money."

"Yes, yes of course." Tazuna said.

"All right," Kakashi said. "I'll send a messenger bird back to Konoha to request back up and tell the Hokage of our situation."

"Allow me." Naruto said. He bit his thumb, spread it across his left hand and went through a series of hand signs. "Summoning Jutsu! Ich!" after a small cloud of smoke, a small fox with one tail appeared before them.

"Naruto, long time no see big bro." the fox said happily. It was small and had bright orange fur. Hinata and Ino were resisting the urge to squeal at his cuteness.

"Hey Ichigo," Naruto said petting the fox. "I need you to deliver a message back to Konoha and I want it there yesterday, understand?"

"You got it bro." the fox said. "What's the message and who am I delivering it too."

"It's going to the Hokage." Naruto said.

"And here's the message." Kakashi said, handing it to Naruto who tied it around the Ichigo's leg.

"All right little buddy, take off." Naruto said. "Or else I'll call Nago and have him take care of this." Ichigo's fur bristled.

"I can run circles around that old 7-tailed bastard!" Ichigo said and shot off to Konoha. When he was gone, Naruto started to laugh.

"I love doing that to him." He said.

"What are you talking about?" Choji asked.

"Ichigo's got a bit of a complex because he's a member of the Ich no Yoko tribe and they're considered the weakest. So I like to poke at him to get him to go a little harder."

"That's cruel Naruto." Ino said, but she was smiling a bit.

"What did he mean by 7 tails?" Shikamaru asked.

"Um," Naruto said, "how about we set up camp and I'll tell you later." A few of the others looked at him but nodded.

That night after the tents had been set up, the food eaten, and the fire crackling, Naruto knew that it was time to let the cat, or rather the fox, out of the bag.

"Ok, you guys all know about how the Fourth Hokage beat and killed the Kyubi no Yoko right?" he said. "Well, he didn't, rather he couldn't. You see the Kyubi, all the biju actually, are masses of chakra given form. They can't be killed, only contained. Sometime inside a special object, other times, inside a person." Many of the genin were waiting for the shoe to drop, but others like Shikamaru and Shino knew where this was headed. "When the Kyubi attacked, the Fourth Hokage only had one choice: he had to seal the Fox inside of a baby, a new born baby." The others now got where Naruto was going. "I was the only option."

"That's why you're hated so much by the villagers." Kiba said. "Because they think you're the Kyubi."

"Yeah," Naruto said. "But I'm not; the Kyubi is just sealed inside me and has no influence over me. He's actually a pretty cool guy."

"But he nearly destroyed Konoha." Choji shouted.

"Not by choice." Naruto said. "He was being controlled. He doesn't remember by whom, but he believes that it might have been an Uchiha."

"That is possible." Kakashi said. "The Sharingan Eye of the Uchiha Clan has been known to be able to control the Kyubi. In fact there was a lot of suspicion of the Uchiha Clan after that Kyubi's attack."

"So, it's because of the Kyubi that you're able to summon those foxes?" Ino asked.

"_Demon_ Foxes," Naruto clarified. "And yes. The fewer tails a fox has the smaller and weaker it is. You guys saw Ichigo, he's a One-Tail and about the size of Akamaru. The three-tailed foxes get to be about the size of a full grown dog; the 4 to 6 tails get to about the size of a small horse and are good for riding on and combat. The seven and eight tails are giant and good for larger and stronger opponents."

"What about the Nine-Tailed foxes?" Shino asked.

"There's only one Nine-Tailed Fox, and he's sealed inside me." Naruto said. "Even if I wanted to summon him, it would take a lot out of me to temporarily break the seal and let him out."

"And you're sure the Fox can be trusted?" Kurenai said.

"I would trust him like I would an uncle." Naruto said. "So, does this change you're guy's opinion of me?" the answer that he got was the last he expected and coming from the last person he expected. Hinata got up and wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"You'll always be Naruto." She said quietly. "That will never change." A second later, Ino joined in on the hug.

"You'll always be that funny blond goofball to me." She said and took it a step further to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm just sorry I didn't know sooner, or else I could have had your back more man." Kiba said with Akamaru barking in agreement.

"Seeing you as the Kyubi would be the same as seeing those of my family only as our insects." Shino said. "It is illogical and besides, there's no way anyone who can make an Aburame smile can be evil."

"You're Naruto." Shikamaru said offhandedly. "To think of you as anything else would be too troublesome."

"There's no way that anyone who eats Ichiraku Ramen could be evil." Choji said. "You're good with me." Naruto just smiled up at them all.

"Thanks guys, you have no idea what this means to me." He said.

_Commercial Break!_

_With a new crewmate, Roronoa Zoro by their side, Naruto and Luffy set off on their great adventure to make Luffy King of the Pirates. There's only one teeny tiny, slight problem: Luffy just got carried off by a freaking bird! Now Naruto and Zoro have to find their captain and deal with a new enemy who possess the powers of a devil fruit like Luffy: Buggy the Clown._

_End Commercial._

"I think that's enough for one night." Kakashi said. "Let's all head to bed."

"I'll take first watch." Naruto said. "I'm not that tired." Naruto offered. Kakashi nodded and went into his tent with Kiba and Shino. Asuma went into a tent with Shikamaru and Choji while Kurenai took a tent with Hinata and Ino. Before going to his personal tent, Tazuna turned to Naruto.

"I think you'll make a good Hokage someday kid." He said before getting into his tent. Naruto smiled and created a squad of Shadow Clones to watch the area. After that he just sat in on a log and watched the fire. He must have been sitting there for about 2 hours before he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped a little and looked to see Hinata and Ino behind him.

"You ok?" Ino asked.

"Yeah, just a little lost in my own head." Naruto said.

"Naruto, I'm sorry." Ino said. "I'm sorry for yelling at you and making fun of you and everything for the past few years."

"The past is the past Ino." Naruto said. "All we can do is look to the future." Ino and Hinata smiled and sat down on either side of Naruto.

"We a-actually wanted to talk to you ab-about the fut-future." Hinata said.

"When we get back to Konoha, would you like to go out on a date with us?" Ino asked. Naruto blinked in surprise.

"I, um, well good night." Naruto said quickly and shot towards his tent, leaving the girls to giggle at him.

The next day Naruto woke up after a fitful night of sleep. It wasn't that he didn't want to go out on a date with Hinata and/or Ino; it was more like he didn't know how. Growing up as Konoha's pariah he didn't really have much luck about asking for dating advice. Walking out of his tent, he waved to Kiba and Shino who were still keeping watch. He threw water on his face to try and wake himself up. He walked back to the campsite and found that everyone was eating breakfast.

"Morning Naruto," Kakashi said and held up a plate. Naruto took it and started eating. As they ate, everyone caught the glances that were flying between Ino, Hinata, and Naruto. Everyone else were now shooting glance at each other as if trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

Just as everyone finished breakfast, four blurs entered the clearing. 2 were in skin tight green unitards, 2 wore white and had a long ponytail, and the fourth wore a pink dress and had her hair in a pair of buns.

"Hello my youthful comrades!" the taller one in green shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Guy," Asuma groaned slightly.

"Kakashi my youthful rival!" the person named Guy shouted again.

"Huh?" Kakashi said looking up from his food. "You say something Guy." This brought tears flowing down the jonin's eyes.

"Hey Tenten," Naruto said walking towards his old friend. "I'm guessing this is your team."

"Yeah," Tenten sighed in embarrassment. "The larger one is my sensei Guy and his mini-me is Rock Lee. The one is white is Neji Hyuga."

"Hyuga?" asked Naruto and glanced over at Hinata. "Anyway, you guys are our backup I'm guessing."

"That is right my youthful comrade!" Lee shouted, appearing at Naruto's side and freaking him out. "The Hokage believed that it would be good to work with other ninja our own age!"

"Jeeze, Lee, turn down the volume a bit please." Naruto said, digging his finger in his ear. "Anyway, is this everyone?"

"Yes, we were the only team available." Neji said stoically. It sounded like a cross between Shino's monotone and Sasuke's arrogance. Already Naruto was starting to not like the guy.

"All right then." Naruto said, kneeling into the ground.

"Here," Shikamaru said holding a shogi board.

"You carry one of those around with you?" Naruto asked. The Nara just shrugged. Naruto shook his head and set up the pieces like he had in their original formation. "Guy-sensei, you and Lee are taijutu experts right?"

"Yes my youthful," Guy started.

"Thanks," Naruto interrupted. "You two will be here on the front lines with me, Choji, and Kiba. Neji, you're guarding the client with Hinata, Shikamaru, and Asuma-sensei?"

"Why's that?" Neji demanded. Naruto frowned at the Hyuga's tone.

"Because between two sets of Byakugan eyes, Shikamaru's own tactical genius, and Asuma-sensei's strength, you four are the perfect choices for guard detail." Naruto said. "Now, do you want to put your ego aside, or do you want your tombstone to say: Here lies Neji Hyuga, had his head stuck up his ass and got it chopped off?" Neji growled but stayed quiet. "As I was saying, Tenten, I want you hanging back in the back with Kakashi-sensei, Shino, Kurenai-sensei, and Shino on ranged weapon support."

"You got it Naruto." Tenten said.

"I figured the most accurate kunoichi in Konoha would like that position." He said with a smile. The remark was caught by Ino. "Let's get back on the road." The group got into formation and started to make their way back down the road. It wasn't long until they reached water and a ferryman who would take them across the way. After a little while, they found themselves in a thick fog.

"Wow, this is some thick fog." Ino said. "I can barely see a thing."

"We'll be able to see the bridge in a moment." The ferryman said. "One the other side is the Land of Waves." When they broke through the fog they saw a tall unfinished bridge and were in awe by it. "The mist will keep us hidden but from this point on, we have to turn off the engines and row. We'd be screwed if Gato caught us." The group stayed quiet as they sailed across the water and reached the shore.

"You've done some real good here Tazuna." Naruto said. "I look forward to seeing it finished."

"Tazuna, so far it looks like we've been overlooked," the ferryman said when they neared the shore. "Just to be on the safe side we'll take an inland waterway through town to a point where we can make landfall under the cover of mangroves."

"Thanks." Tazuna said. Many of the genin were in awe of the beauty of the mangroves when they came into view. They came to a small port and the ferryman let them all off.

"This is as far as I go." He said. "Take care of yourselves."

"Thanks." Tazuna said with a smile. "For taking such a risk, I shouldn't have asked." He watched as the man drove away. The group of ninja all got back into formation and started to make their way into town.

"Stay on your guard people." Kakashi advised. "The next person we come across will most likely be stronger than the previous ones." This put everyone on edge; several of them had their fingers twitching over their shuriken holsters. Naruto heard something in the bushes and threw a shuriken into them, but nothing happened.

"Must have been the wind," He said.

"Please don't do that Naruto." Kakashi requested.

"Sorry, but you've just got me a bit on edge sensei." Naruto said. The group started to walk again and heard another rustle. This time it was Lee who threw a kunai. Neji activated his Byakugan and smirked.

"You just nearly killed a rabbit." He said. Naruto went to look and indeed saw a kunai just above the rabbit's head. He picked it up and brought it back to the group.

"Don't worry Lee; the little guy's just fine." Naruto said. The sensei's all had worried looks on their faces. Kakashi's eye suddenly widened.

"Everybody down!" he shouted. Asuma grabbed Tazuna as he and all the ninja hit the ground just as a giant sword flew over their head. The blade embedded itself into a tree and a man as big as he was stood on the hilt. He wore camo leg and arm warmers, stripped pants, no shirt, and bandages around his mouth and neck. A kiri headband was wrapped around his head.

"Zabuza Momochi," Kakashi identified, "formerly a ninja of the Hidden Mist Village."

"You kids are gonna want to hang back for this one." Asuma said. "Even with 10 of you, this guy's in another league." He and the other senseis stood in front of their students and client.

"Sharingan Kakashi, the Odd Beast Might Guy, Genjutsu Mistress Kurenai, and Asuma for the Twelve Guardian Ninja." Zabuza said. "Would you all mind just handing over the Old Man."

"Everyone stay back and protect Tazuna." Kakashi ordered. "No matter what happens, stay out of this fight."

"Hinata, Neji, activate your Byakugans, support team, hang close to them, attack team, we're the first line of defense." Naruto ordered everyone into position. "Shikamaru, game on," Shikamaru nodded and knelt down and formed a circle with his hands.

"Everyone, wait for my signal until doing anything." He said. "Hinata, Neji, keep me informed of what's going on."

In front of them, the jonin were all locked in combat. Zabuza had performed something called the Hidden in the Mist Jutsu. A thick fog rolled in, obscuring Zabuza from view.

"There are 8 targets." Zabuza's voice echoed throughout the clearing.

"What?" Ino said looking around.

"Throat, spinal column, lungs, liver, the jugular vein, the subclavian artery, kidney, hear," Zabuza listed. "So many vital, vulnerable places, which shall I choose." His dark laugh gave everyone chills. Several of the rookies were shaking and clutching their kunais tightly.

"Stay calm guys." Naruto said, snapping the worried ninja out of their thoughts. "He's up against 4 jonin and even if he beats them, I promise, he won't get to any of us." Naruto confidence shook everyone out of their near suicidal funks. "Hyugas talk to me, where's Zabuza?" Hinata and Neji examined the area. Neji was the one that found him.

"Behind us!" he shouted. Zabuza materialized out of the mist and started to draw his sword. Asuma blurred towards them and blocked the blade of  
>Zabuza's zanbato with his trench knives. Guy flew at the ninja mercenary and kicked his head off. Literally, Zabuza's head flew off his shoulders and then turned into water.<p>

"A water clone," Asuma whispered. The real Zabuza charged through the mist at Guy, his sword ready to cleave him in half.

"Guy-sensei!" Lee shouted in warning. Kakashi and Kurenai stood on either side of Zabuza and bombarded him with shuriken, turning him into swish cheese and then a puddle of water.

"Where is he?" Shikamaru asked.

"Water Style," Zabuza's voice came, "Water Dragon Jutsu!" a dragon made of water flew from the direction of the lake and nailed all the jonin and pushed them into the water.

"Does this water seem heavy to you guys?" Kurenai asked.

"Chakra," Kakashi whispered. 4 Zabuzas shot out of the water behind the senseis.

"Water Style, Water Prison Jutsu!" they shouted. The senseis were trapped inside spheres of water. "Those prisons are inescapable. You're all trapped. All of you running around make my job harder to do. So I'll just hold you all here while I deal with the runts. Water Clone Jutsu!" Another Zabuza slowly rose out of water.

"We're in deep shit." Naruto said.

"Little ninja wannabes, trying so hard to fit in, even wearing those headbands." Zabuza laughed. "But a real ninja is the one who walks the line between life and death."

"Everyone, take Tazuna and get the hell out of here!" Kakashi shouted through the water. "You can't beat him and his clones can only get so far away from him!" Naruto was gritting his teeth and analyzing the situation.

_Ok, options,_ Naruto though. _Number 1) listen to Kakashi-sensei. That's a no right off the bat, Zabuza could just kill our senseis and come after us. 2) Fight him head on. That won't work either. Even if there are ten of us but this guy took down our teachers with barely breaking a sweat. 3) Use __it.__ Well since I can't think of anything else, I guess its option 3._

"Guys!" he shouted. "I've got a plan! Attack team, follow my lead. Defense team, watch Tazuna. Support Team, wait for my signal."

"You've got a plan Naruto?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah, and whatever you see next, I'll explain later." Naruto said and grabbed his belt buckle. "Henshin!" Naruto burst into flames, making his friends worry about him, but it quickly faded to reveal Naruto in a suit of armor.

"Naruto," Hinata gasped.

"Whoa," Ino said. Tenten was also drooling over the sight of Naruto's sword.

"All right people, follow my lead." Kurama said. Zabuza was just laughing and shaking his head.

"Do you really think some suit of armor can help you?" Zabuza said. "When I was your age," he was cut off, almost literally, as Naruto swung his sword at him. He just barely raised his blade to block.

"Sorry, but I hate it when old people start to ramble on about walking to the ninja academy uphill both ways in the snow." Kurama said. "Now let's rock!" He swung his sword again. Zabuza blocked the blade. He didn't, however, block Kiba's spinning, break dancing like blows. Zabuza was about to chop Kiba half, but the blade was once again occupied by Naruto's sword. This time it was Choji who hammed on the blows while Zabuza was busy. An annoyed Zabuza raised his blade to attack again, and once again, Naruto blocked the attack, giving Lee the room to rain down blows that were both hard and fast.

Zabuza staggered back and didn't notice Naruto blur in front of him.

"Million Stab!" shouted Naruto and fired off the barrage of stabs. The ventilated Zabuza turned into puddle. "Support team, now! Aim for the one holding your sensei!" Shino, Tenten, and Ino moved to the front line and Naruto flipped his sword into a reverse grip. "Drive!" he shouted and swung his sword, sending an arc of energy the cut through the water, the mist, and through the Zabuza clone.

"Parasitic Insect, Swarm!" Shino said, launching a, well, swarm of, um, parasitic insects at the Zabuza holding Kurenai, eating up its chakra and reducing it to a puddle.

"Ninja Art, Multi-Weapon Jutsu!" Tenten cried and opened a scroll, firing off about 15 weapons that bombarded the Zabuza with Guy.

"Ninja Art, Explosive Bouquet!" Ino said. She threw a bouquet of flowers, each one blowing up and taking the Zabuza holding Asuma with it.

"They were all water clones?" Naruto deduced. "Then where?"

"Ino, behind you!" Hinata shouted. Zabuza appeared out of the mist spinning his zanbato over his head.

"You're mine!" Zabuza growled and brought his sword across to slice her across the waist. Or that would have been the plan if Naruto hadn't blurred between them and used his body as a shield to protect Ino. The force behind the slash was enough to knock Naruto out of his henshin and sent the pair rolling across the ground.

"You…ok Ino?" Naruto grunted. Ino was wide eyed and nodded slowly. Naruto tried to sit up but groaned and fell back. Ino was pulled her hand back and found blood on her hand.

"You brat!" Zabuza roared and raised his sword over his head and was brought it down. It clanged against Asuma's trench knives.

"You made a big mistake in attacking out students Zabuza." Kakashi said. "It's time to take the gloves off." He reached for his headband and pulled it up his headband to reveal a red eye with 3 tomas around it.

"Agreed," Guy said. Chakra began to swirl around him. "Third Four, Gate of Pain, open!" he shouted. His hair stood on end and his skin turned red. Asuma kicked Zabuza away and charged chakra through his trench knives.

"Flying Swallow!" he said, changing his trench knives into trench swords.

"Let's go Zabuza." Kurenai said. She and the other jonin charged at Zabuza.

The girls meanwhile had formed a small ring around Naruto.

"I've got a first aid kit." Tenten said, pulling it out of one of her scrolls. "Someone hold his skin together." With shaky hand, Ino pulled the skin on Naruto's back together while Tenten stitched his skin together.

"Here," Hinata said after they stitched him up. "It's a healing cream." Hinata put some cream on his back.

The jonin meanwhile were battling it out with Zabuza. Kurenai had cast a genjutsu on Zabuza to throw him off of what the others would do. Between that, Asuma's slashes, Guy's fists, and Kakashi's ninjutsu, Zabuza soon had his back against a tree, bloody, broken, and beaten.

"It's over Zabuza." Kakashi said as they approached him. A pair of senbon needles flew through the air and pierced Zabuza's neck.

"It would appear that you are correct." Said a new ninja. He was standing in a tree and looked down on Zabuza. Kakashi walked forward and check for a pulse.

"He's gone." He confirmed.

"Sorry for interfering, but I wanted to end the Demon of the Mist myself."

"A Kiri hunter ninja," Asuma said, lighting another cigarette. "Bit young aren't you?"

"Your fight is over." The hunter nin said, disappearing from the branch and appearing by Zabuza. "I will take the remains for disposal." And without another word he and the body disappeared. The jonin stood for a minute before rushing to Naruto's side.

"Is he ok?" Kakashi asked his Sharingan eye covered again. Naruto grunted and gave him thumbs up.

"Give me a good night's sleep." Naruto said. "I'll be ok."

"You can recover at my place." Tazuna said. "It's not far." Naruto nodded and Kakashi pulled him onto his back. Nothing happened during the trip to Tazuna's house. When they arrived, his daughter, Tsunami, ushered Naruto to the couch and Kakashi set him down.

"Are you going to be ok?" she asked.

"I'll be fine," Naruto said, "I've got three beautiful nurses looking after me after all." He smiled and Hinata, Ino, and Tenten all blushed.

"Still, you're taking it easy for the next week." Kakashi said. "And that's an order."

"Yes sensei." Naruto said. He looked around and saw a confused look on Tenten's face. "Something wrong Tenten?"

"Just that kid that took Zabuza." She said.

"He's part of a special breed of ninja who hunt down and kill ninja that betray their villages." Guy said seriously. "When they make a kill, they dismember the body so that the secrets of their villages will stay secrets."

"What do you mean sensei?" Lee asked.

"Even a ninja's dead body can tell a lot about them." Asuma said. "Jutsus they might have known for example. The same thing will happen to us when we die."

"The thing is though," Kurenai said. "They usually dismember the bodies right there on the spot. And those weapons he used,"

"What about them?" Kiba asked.

"Senbon needles have a variety of uses, including some medical uses. A friend of mine uses them a lot." At the mention of friend, the guys all shuttered. "Among those uses include putting people into deathlike states." Everyone caught on and went wide eyed.

"So sword boy's still sucking air huh?" Naruto said. He tried to sit up but fell back with a groan. "Damnit!"

"Aren't you just overthinking thins and making them more complicated?" Tazuna asked.

"Maybe, but it's usually the smallest details that are the most important, it's better to be safe than sorry." Kakashi pointed out. "Either way, we don't know if Zabuza is the worse the Gato has to throw at us, so we need to be prepared."

"What do you have in mind Kakashi?" Asuma asked.

"I think it would be a good idea to step our students training a bit." Kakashi said. "I mean I've just been helping Naruto with taijutsu and chakra control for the past month."

"That's all you've trained him in my youthful rival." Guy said.

"I've got really bad taijutsu and chakra control." Naruto groaned. "Just wish I wasn't missing out on all the fun."

"It wouldn't be fun for _you_." Said a kid in overalls, a bucket hat, and just gave off the most depressing aura a person could imagine.

"Who the hell are you?" Kiba snapped.

"Inari, where have you been?" Tazuna asked, holding his arms out to the boy.

"Welcome home," Inari said. "Grandpa." He came up and hugs Tazuna.

"Inari, greet our guests properly." Tsunami scolded. "They are esteemed ninja who brought your grandfather home safely." Inari looked at the 14 ninja, one of whom was lying on the couch.

"But mama, they're all gonna die." Inari said. "No one can beat Gato and his men." A few of the younger ninja were looking ticked but the older ones, and Shikamaru and Shino were wondering what he meant.

"Listen kid, everyone in this room is a hero or has the potential to be a great one." Naruto said. Inari just glared at Naruto.

"There's no such thing as a hero." He said "If you don't want to die, go back home."

"Where are you off to Inari?" Tazuna asked.

"I'm going to watch the ocean from my room." Inari said and walked out.

"Sweet kid," Shikamaru muttered.

"Please forgive him." Tazuna requested.

"We'll see." Naruto said. "So Kakashi-sensei, what exactly are we gonna do about me? I mean even with my insane healing factor, I'm gonna be stuck on this couch for at 2 days, maybe 3. Less if my nurses take care of me." The girls once again blushed at this. "And just in case Zabuza shows up or Gato has someone stronger, we'll need everything, including Kurama."

"What exactly is Kurama?" asked Choji. Naruto sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"Better get comfortable guys, it's a bit of a story." Naruto said. (A/N if u want an explanation of Kamen Rider Kurama, look at the last chapter.) "So, that's everything." Naruto finished.

"Naruto!" Lee shouted after his story finished. "I must spar with you in your armor!" Naruto smiled sheepishly.

"I wish I could take you on Lee, but with the armor I'd probably destroy you." Naruto said. "Besides, I only use the armor as a last resort."

"Like against Zabuza." Shikamaru said. "Since we couldn't beat him on our own or run away safely."

"Figures you would have thought up the scenarios Shika." Naruto smiled. "So Kakashi-sensei?" Kakashi was rubbing his chin.

"Well you're going to be on this couch till your back to 100%." He said. "But maybe I can teach your Shadow Clones some Nature Manipulation."

"Sounds good," Naruto said with a yawn. "But first, I need some sleep." Everyone smiled at him and left him to sleep. Everyone left to leave him, except for Hinata, Tenten, and Ino.

"So, how do you know Naruto?" Ino asked Tenten.

"He's been coming into my Grandpa's shop for years for cloths and equipment." Tenten explained. "I think we're the only place to sell to him."

_Probably because of the Kyubi._ Hinata and Ino thought.

"What about you guys?" Tenten asked.

"We were his c-classmates." Hinata said.

"Some of us not the best," Ino muttered under her breath. Tenten looked at her.

"No pink hair so you're not Sakura." Tenten said.

"Wh-what do you m-mean?" Hinata asked.

"Naruto told me he use to try and ask out this girl Sakura a lot but she would always turn him down, hard and loud." Tenten explained.

"Well I wasn't as bad as Sakura," Ino said, "if he'd tried asking me out I probably would have given him a chance after a while. But I was never there for him when he needed a friend."

"I, I wasn't there ei-either." Hinata stammered. "I, I al-always wa-watch-watched from a-a-afar."

"Well you're all here now." Naruto said, making the three of them jump. "And Ino, Hinata, to answer your question from earlier: I'd be happy to date you when we get back to Konoha, but one the condition that Tenten gets one too." The weapons mistresses blushed. "If she wants one of course." Naruto said, turning on his copyrighted foxy charm.

"Sure," Tenten said, blushing. Hinata and Ino looked at each other and nodded.

"Good, now go to sleep," Naruto yawned. The girls smiled and left. Leaving Naruto to fall asleep himself with a smile on his face.

_**All right, and that's it for that. Hope you all like what I went with, I'm trying to base fighting styles and the like off of the Ultimate Ninja Storm series of Naruto games. I've also kind of shown off Naruto's love interests for this story and I think I'm doing ok.**_

_**Questions? Comments? Shoot me a review.**_


	3. Bride of Courage

**Ok, sorry it's been so long since the last update, been busy with this, that, and the other. But I'm back now and we will start by answering the last chapter's reviews.**

**Leaf Ranger: I'll see what I can do with Tayuya and Anko, but I won't make any promises.**

**jgreek: well, here you go**

**Shizuka Taiyou: I hope you do.**

**JJB88: probably not on the water, might on the jacket. And for your other question, check last chapter.**

**Rubius: I did add a title sequence this chapter, and I want to include fight music, but I don't want to include anything that's already been used by another Rider.**

**Dragon Man 180: That was what my thinking was.**

**Trinity Fenton-Phantom: sweet name by the way. And I will keep writing, update when I can, and I'm glade you think it's interesting.**

**All right, that's it on the reviews. And I am also looking into fight music, but like I said above, I don't want to use anything already releated to a Kamen Rider series. Anything else out of Japan is open game though and I am taking requests.**

**Now, I don't own a damn thing, if I did, Naruto might have more story to it and I'd probably already be working on the next Kamen Rider series.**

**Also, the title song is Strength by Abingdon Boys School**

Bride of Courage

The next few days were murder for Naruto being stuck on the couch. But to make sure he still got some training in, he was able to create a few Shadow Clones for Kakashi to train. Kakashi had decided that his student had had enough training in overall chakra control, before they left Konoha, they two had been sparing on water without Naruto sinking. Now Kakashi decided that it was time to start training Naruto in actual jutsu.

"Ok Naruto, before I start teaching you how to use jutsu, we have to figure out your chakra type." Kakashi said handing Naruto a piece of paper. "Channel your chakra into this paper."

"Ok," Naruto said and did as instructed. To the jonins' surprise, the paper split into 3 pieces. One piece ignited and turned to ash, another turned to dirt and crumbled away, and the last one became wet. "And this tells us what exactly?" asked Naruto.

"It means that you've got an affinity for wind, fire, earth, and water." Kakashi said. "At so young, you have four affinities."

"I'm guessing that's not exactly normal." Naruto said.

"It's not." Asuma said, playing around with a cigarette, Tsunami wouldn't let him smoke in the house. "Normally someone like you would only have one element, two maybe, but to have _four_." He just let out a low whistle.

"Naruto, I want you to make four shadow clones for me to train." Kakashi ordered. "Think you can do it?"

"Piece of cake," Naruto said, he crossed his fingers and did his jutsu. After the four clones appeared however, Naruto fell back onto the couch. "Ok, maybe not so much."

"We'll work in shifts." Kurenai said. "One team will train, one will watch the house, and the third will guard Tazuna at the bridge."

"After Naruto's clones disappear, I'll stay at the bridge to guard Tazuna." Kakashi said. The rest of the senseis nodded in agreement. "Kurenai, your team will watch the house first, Gai, your team will do the first training shift, Asuma, you guys watch Tazuna."

"Sounds good my youthful rival!" Gai shouted.

"Gai-sensei, volume!" Tsunami barked.

"Yes ma'am." Gai said, much quieter. Everyone else chuckled.

_Musical intro_

_Naruto stands on the Hokage Monument with his arms crossed as the sun rises over the village. Title Screen comes up. __**Naruto X Kamen Rider: Kamen Rider Kurama!**_

_Kanvai ta kuchibiru Ite tsuku taiyou ni Sara sare te (My dried lips are being exposed to the frozen sun.)_

_Naruto sits sadly on a swing. Iruka comes over and offers him his hand smiling. Naruto smiles back and takes the hand._

_Afureru namida ga Shitataru mabushi sade Boku no nazoru kara (My over flowing tears are tracing back to me under the dripping radiant.)_

_Naruto runs as the people and places of the Naruto series pass behind him._

_Tarinai kasho no Tada umeau youni Kimi no motomete ita (As if compensating for each other's weakness, my life yearns for your presence.)_

_Naruto activates his driver and shouts, "Henshin!_

_Fure au yubi ni Tsutanaru setsunasa dake no Kaki atsumete(As our fingers come into contact, only our contagious miseries are being piled upon.)_

_An army of Narutos train in the forest while being watched over by Kakashi._

_Kodou no oku ni Kazasu negai no Sadame to iu nara (If the wishes that I uphold beneath my heartbeat are called "destiny.")_

_Kurama clashes blades with Zabuza while Team 8 fight Haku in the ice dome._

_noko sareta kioku nakushita kimi no omo kake ga (the members I left behind and your forgotten face,_

_Iruka looks out the window. The Third Hokage smiles as Konohamaru cheers in front of him_

_ima mo oki sari no ma ma (even now, will still be left abandoned.)_

_Naruto stands on Hokage tower with Hizuren, Konohamaru, Iruka, Kakashi, and Teams 8, 10, and Team Gai behind him. _

The teams left leaving the original Naruto alone with team 8. Shino and Hinata went out first to take a look around the grounds, leaving Naruto alone with Kiba and Kurenai.

"So, what are gonna do with the girls for your little date Naruto?" Kiba asked. Naruto looked at him gob smacked.

"How did you?" he asked. Kiba just smirked and tapped his ears. "Inuzuka ears huh?"

"Yep," Kiba said. "So what's the plan?"

"I don't know yet." Naruto admitted leaning back. "I mean there aren't really that man other places other than Ichiraku's that'll actually serve me. And as much as I love the place, I want to take the girl's somewhere nicer."

"I might know a place." Kurenai said. "I'll show you when we get back to Konoha."

"Thanks Kurenai sensei." Naruto said. Shino and Hinata were the next to walk into the room. The rest of the morning, Naruto and Shino talked about their comparisons as to having powers like their sealed inside him.

Hinata helped Naruto out before she left to switch with another team by rubbing some of her healing cream on his wound.

"I'll give you another rub tonight." She whispered in Naruto's ear making him smile.

With Kakashi

Kakashi turned to look at the four Narutos that stood before him.

"Ok, here's what we're going to do." Kakashi said. "I'm going to try and teach you all how to manipulate your elemental chakra. After that I'll start teaching you all some jutsus." He pulled several leaves off of trees and handed one to the first Naruto and lit it. "Use your fire chakra to keep that flame from reaching the edges of the leaf." He handed a leaf to the next Naruto. "Use your wind chakra to cut this leaf in half." To the next Naruto, "Try and use your earth chakra to pull stones out of the ground." And when he reached the last one, "I want you to try and make the water in the lake move by using your water chakra. Now go to work!"

"Yes Kakashi-sensei!" they all said. Kakashi nodded to them and they took off to their assigned tasks. As Kakashi watched them, he began to understand where Naruto's real element strength lay. The clone he had working on wind chakra was doing the best, slowly working his way to cut his leaf in half. Water was doing well to; he was at least getting the water to move through his chakra. Earth appeared to be having a more difficult time with his training was having a hard time pulling rocks up. Fire was having the worst luck; his leaf was almost already burned away.

_So despite having all elements, Naruto does still have his specialties: looks like he's more of a wind type with water being a close second. Earth also appears to not being that much of a strong point and fire is going to be particularly difficult for him._ Kakashi thought.

"Hey Wind Naruto!" Kakashi said. The Naruto in question looked at his sensei. "Do you think you have the strength to create 2 more clones?"

"I can try." Naruto said. He took a deep breath and focused before crossing his fingers. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Two more Narutos popped into existence but all three of them were still breathing hard.

"All right you guys rest for a minute before we start your next training." Kakashi advised. After letting them recover their strength Kakashi began giving his orders. "Wind Naruto, I want you to continue your training." That Naruto nodded and resumed his leaf cutting.

"What about us sensei?" asked one of the new Narutos.

"I'm going to teach the both of you a D-Ranked Ninjutsu that goes with one of your elements." Kakashi said and created two Shadow Clones of his own. Each Kakashi took a Naruto aside.

Naruto/Kakashi 1

"All right Naruto," Kakashi said. "I'm going to teach you an Earth Jutsu, I know it's your second lowest strength, but it still might be helpful to know."

"Sounds good sensei." Naruto said. "What's the Jutsu?"

"It's called Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Jutsu." Kakashi explained. "It conceals you underground and lets you drag your opponent underground."

"Is that the move you used on Sasuke?" Naruto asked with a smirk.

"It is." Kakashi confirmed. "Now let's begin."

Naruto/Kakashi 2

"Ok Naruto, I'm going to teach you the Hidden Mist Jutsu." Kakashi said.

"You mean that move Zabuza used?" asked Naruto.

"The same, he wasn't the first Mist ninja I ever same across." Kakashi confirmed. "The technique is pretty self-explanatory. It will create a mist out of nearby water to cloak your movements. The real trick it to sharpen your senses to the point where you don't get yourself lost in the mist." Naruto nodded

By the end of the day, Naruto had mastered using wind chakra, had almost mastered water, was getting close with earth and at least had been able to hold back the flames with his fire training. He had also done well with the jutsus Kakashi taught him. He could move around well enough in the ground and create a good thick mist, but he still needed a bit of work before he was really ready to use them in battle.

After the clones dispelled, Kakashi left to join the Tazuna Guard, getting together with Guy's team along the way.

With Naruto

After Team 8 left, Tem 10 took over on house guard. Ino and Choji took to patrolling the grounds first, leaving Naruto with Shikamaru and Asuma. Shikamaru wasted no time in pulling out his shogi board.

"You want me to play you?" Naruto had asked.

"Yep." Shikamaru said. "I want to see just how tactically skilled you are." Naruto just shrugged and made the first move. The game went to Shikamaru, but it still was a good game and showed that Naruto actually was pretty good in terms of strategy. Asuma was also impressed and a little ashamed. Naruto had gotten farther in a game against Shikamaru than he had.

When Ino and Choji came in to switch with the other two, Choji helped Tsunami with lunch, leaving Ino and Naruto alone.

"How's your back?" Ino asked.

"It's getting better." Naruto said. "I should be back on my feet in another day or two." He smiled at Ino, but it faded when he saw the tears falling from her eyes. "Ino,"

"I'm sorry," Ino said. "I'm sorry you got hurt because of me." She covered her face with her hands and wept. Naruto reached forward and stroked her hair.

"It's ok Ino." He said. "If we were in that situation again, I would do the same thing in a heartbeat." Ino looked at him. "We are allies and friends Ino and I would gladly give my life for you or Choji, or Hinata, or Tenten, or anyone else. Ino smiled and hugged him. This was the site the Choji walked in on with a plate of food in hand.

"Um, everything ok here guys?" he asked. Ino let go and smiled at Choji.

"Yeah," she said, wiping the tears from her eyes. Naruto winced and held his head. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just my clones dispersing at once, it's a little annoying but I'll be ok." Naruto explained. The rest of their time together was spent with Choji laughing slightly as Ino insisted on feeding Naruto his lunch.

With Kakashi

Kakashi looked up from what he was doing to watch Guy's team helping out Tazuna and his workers and treating it like training, especially that Lee kid.

"Kakashi my youthful rival!" Gai yelled. "What are you doing?"

"Just putting together for Naruto something to go through later." Kakashi said. Gai glanced at the scroll Kakashi was writing in and saw that it was several C-rank ninjutsus that Kakashi had picked up over the years. "Would you mind dropping it off to him and make sure he doesn't actually try them."

"Of course my rival," Gai said. "I believe that your Naruto will one day make a good rival for my Lee."

"That would make for an interesting match." Kakashi admitted. "I would look forward to seeing it one day." He handed Gai the scroll as his team left to change shifts.

With Naruto

Naruto was upset when Team 10 left but looked forward to getting to know Gai and his students better. Gai and Lee burst into the house saying that Neji and Tenten would be the first to take patrol.

"Hey Lee, can I ask you something?" Naruto said.

"Of course my youthful ally." Lee said.

"Why do you imitate Gai-sensei so much?" Naruto asked, getting a pair of bushy eyebrows raised from the student and teacher. "I mean, you're practically his copy."

"Do you have a problem with that Naruto?" Lee asked while Gai stood back and watched.

"No, it's just, you're an orphan like me right?" asked Naruto. Lee nodded. "Then what would you rather want to be remembered as? The second Might Gai or the first Rock Lee?" Lee blinked and fell back into a seat.

"So, I should stop acting like Gai-sensei?" Lee asked.

"Not exactly." Naruto said. "You can still honor him but just try and be yourself at the same time." Lee was quiet as he thought about Naruto's words.

"Gai-sensei," he said, "What do you think about this?"

"I was planning on waiting to talk to you about this later, but it seems that things have changed." Gai said. "There will come a day when you would break apart and follow your own path Lee. I don't know when that day would come but I know that it will be a great day." He placed a hand on Lee's shoulder. "Know that I will always be your teacher and you my student and I will always be proud of you for that."

"Gai-sensei." Lee said his eyes watering.

"Lee." Gai said, tearing up as well. This went back and forth for a bit before they started hugging and some kind of sunset background appeared behind them.

_What the hell?_ Naruto thought as he watched the scene. He shook his head to clear it of the image. "So Lee, how about when we get back to Konoha, we'll swing by Tenten's family store and get you a new wardrobe."

"Hai Naruto!" Lee said and saluted him. Naruto just shook his head at his friend.

"Naruto, Kakashi wanted me to give you this so you could have an idea about what he's going to teach you later." Gai said handing Naruto Kakashi's scroll.

"Thanks Gai sensei." Naruto said and started reading through the scroll. He remembered what he had picked up from his clones during their training with Kakashi. Naruto's elemental affinities were strongest with wind, and then went to water, then earth, and finally fire was his weakest.

When Neji and Tenten came in to switch with Lee and Gai, Tenten immediately rushed to Naruto's side while Neji just walked off to do his own thing.

"How's your back doing Naruto?" asked Tenten.

"I'll be fine." Naruto said. "By the way, can I and Lee stop by the shop when we get home? We need to try and get Lee a new look." Tenten went bug-eyed and slack jawed.

"You managed to convince Lee to change his wardrobe?" she asked. "How?"

"Let's just say I helped him to see that he could follow his own path in life and not Gai-sensei's." Naruto said.

"So do you think I could see that sword you used as Kurama?" Tenten asked. Before Naruto could respond, Tenten used the one jutsu that every woman, ninja and civilian alike, knew by instinct, the Puppy-Dog Eyes Jutsu. Naruto felt his resolve shatter the second he looked into those big brown eyes.

"Ok," Naruto said. He held his hand over his belt buckle and his sword appeared. As soon as it appeared in his hand though, it fell to the floor. "Whoa, I never knew it was that heavy."

"You never noticed before?" asked Tenten.

"I've never pulled it out when I wasn't Kurama." Naruto said. Tenten examined the weapon carefully.

"It's an amazing weapon." She said. "The blade is so sharp, and it's actually very balance. The only downside I can see is that the weapon is so heavy." The pair continued to talk Kamen Rider Kurama for the rest of their time together until the other teams returned from their own missions. As Tsunami and Choji prepared dinner Naruto stepped outside.

"Where are you going Naruto?" asked Kiba.

"I want to try something." Naruto said. He walked outside and sat down near the lake. He sat down and started to meditate. He reached out with his chakra to the surrounding elements in the area. As he focused, a red aura started to form around him.

Along with that aura came Naruto's elements. The winds began to blow around him and lift him off the ground. Water came as well and swirled around him. After that came stones. Finally, fire crackled to life and formed its own ring

"Naruto!" Kakashi shouted. It broke Naruto's concentration and sent him falling to the ground.

"Owowowowow." He said holding his back.

"Naruto, are you ok?" asked Kakashi rushing to his side.

"I was doing fine till you broke my concentration." Naruto snapped. He blinked and said. "I was glowing red wasn't I?"

"Yes, you were." Kakashi confirmed.

"And you were worried Kyubi was taking over." Naruto deduced. "It's ok; he and I have an agreement. I'm aloud to use some of its chakra, but it decides how much."

"And it doesn't influence you?" Kakashi asked.

"Nope, Kyubi's just fine sleeping." Naruto assured him. "As long as I don't get myself killed, he doesn't really care what happens in the outside world."

"All right I trust your judgment." Kakashi said. "But as your sensei, a fellow Konoha ninja, and your friend, I want you to be careful when using that chakra."

"You got it Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said and the two reentered the house for dinner.

"Did you look at the scroll I gave you?" Kakashi asked. "Yeah, I think I'll have enough strength tomorrow to create enough clones to have one practice each jutsu tomorrow." Kakashi nodded at his student.

Day 2

The next day, Naruto was able to create 20 Shadow Clones with little problem.

"Nice work Naruto." Kakashi said. "You really are getting better."

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said. "And I have an idea about a new way to train to, if everyone's up for listening." Everyone gave them his attention, some rather reluctantly *cough* Neji-teme *cough*. "Well you guys remember those teams I recommended on the way here? Maybe we train in those groups for a bit."

"Why is that Naruto?" Kurenai asked.

"I think that since we might not always be on the same teams and might have to integrate our teams at some point so it would be a good idea to do that now." Naruto said. "We have the attack team of Kiba, Lee, and Choji led by Gai-sensei go training first, the defense team of Hinata, Neji, and Choji led by Asuma-sensei will guard Tazuna, and the support team of Shino, Tenten, and Ino led by Kurenai-sensei will take house guard duty. After my Shadow Clones disappear, Kakashi-sensei will join the support team."

"Makes since," Shikamaru said. "It would be good for us to learn to work in different groups should the need arise in the future."

"All right then." Gai said. "Come my youthful students!" He shot out of the house. Lee was shockingly quiet for a moment before following his sensei with Kiba and Choji.

"You ready to go Tazuna?" Asuma asked as Shikamaru and Hinata joined him, Neji keeping his distance.

"Sure thing," Tazuna said. As the group prepared to go, Naruto put his hand on Shikamaru's shoulder.

"Do me a favor and keep an eye on Neji and Hinata." He asked. "There's definitely something going on between them." Shikamaru nodded.

"It's a pain, but I'll do it." he promised.

"Thanks." Naruto nodded. The defense team left and were soon followed by Kakashi and the Narutos. When the support team left to do a quick check around the house, Naruto went to see if he could help Tsunami with anything.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" Tsunami asked, giving him a motherly look. For Naruto it felt good to have someone give him that look.

"I've always been a quick healer." Naruto said. "As long as I don't anything too crazy or stupid, I should be fine." Tsunami nodded and allowed Naruto to help her around the house.

With Kakashi and the Narutos.

Kakashi stood around with the Naruto clones as they practiced the Jutsus Kakashi'd given him the day before. As expected Naruto was doing well with the wind jutsus and the fire jutsus…not so much. The water Jutsus were also coming along almost as well as the winds, and the earths weren't' too bad either. They were nowhere near mastering yet, but they were getting there. As Kakashi watched, he could help but smile at the progress his student was making. He chuckled to himself as he thought that he had been trained by a Hokage, and he might just be training a new one, his sensei's son no less.

He kept watch over the clones until they all ran out of chakra and dispelled. After which he joined Kurenai and her support team.

He returned to the house and blinked to see Narutos all over the outside still practicing their ninjutsu. Kurenai was over going over with her temporary students on how to help support their teammates.

"Being able to use ranged attack like you all do is good support, but it also helps to have other talents." Kurenai explained. "Long range jutsus and genjutsu for example."

"Setting traps or distracting your opponent so that an ally can make a plan is also good." Kakashi said. "Kurenai, what is Naruto doing?" The Genjutsu Mistress sighed and looked over at the army of Narutos.

"He's been doing that for a while now. The original is still inside helping Tsunami, but every hour he creates as many clones as he can and has them training with chakra." Kurenai said. "He just recently started doing jutsus, pretty strong ones too. The new you taught him?"

"Yeah," Kakashi admitted. He watched as one Naruto fired off a Great Breakthrough Jutsu against another one's Water Style: Gunshot. "He's gotten pretty good too."

"As long as the original is taking it easy, I don't see why we can't let him train." Kurenai said. "Now, do you want to help teach our little support team?" Kakashi eye-smiled.

"Sounds good." Kakashi said. "Now, I'll help out Shino out since I'm guessing he's not the genjutsu type."

"That's true Kakashi sensei, because of me and my family's skills; we are not suited for genjutsu, or very many ninjutsus." Shino said.

"Well we'll see what we can do." Kakashi said. "What about you Ino, Tenten?"

"I don't think Ninjutsus are really for me." Ino said. "I'll try and learn a few things from Kurenai-sensei."

"I'll go with you though; genjutsus are a little out of my usual range." Tenten said.

"All right." Kakashi said and started helping his temporary students.

With the Defense Team

Asuma helped out Tazuna on the bridge since a lot of his regular workers were quitting because Gato threatened their families. Despite the bridge builder's please, his workers kept abandoning him. He also got his students working on the bridge too. He would also help them with their defense by randomly throwing things at them. Neji would deflect them easily, Hinata too but it was a little stiffer for her. Shikamaru was a lot different defense wise. He would make the smallest movements to dodge or block anything coming at him.

"Why don't you just give up and go back to the house and wait for us Hinata?" Neji said. "You're clearly not cut for this kind of work." Hinata looked down and away.

"Back off Neji," Shikamaru said, standing by Hinata. "It's too troublesome to know what the problem is between the two of you, but," he shot Neji a glare, "I promised a friend I'd keep you off her back, so back off." Neji took a stop forward but froze when he saw Shikamaru's shadow start to writhe. Neji just shot Hinata another glare and walked away.

"T-Thank you Shikamaru," Hinata said.

"It's no problem." Shikamaru said rubbing the back of his head. "I told Naruto I'd keep him off your back, and Naruto's not the kind of guy I want to let down." Hinata smiled and nodded to her friend. Asuma watched the exchange with a small smile. He was proud that Shikamaru was protecting Hinata so faithfully. Naruto really knew how to get people motivated, he was a natural leader.

Attack Team

Gai looked around the genin that had been assembled before him. Lee had actually changed his cloths. Now he wore a dark green karate gi like he wore before Gai took him under his wing. He still wore his leg warmers. Choji and Kiba were still in their usual outfits and were looking at the taijutsu expert.

"All right, I already know Lee's strength in taijutsu and I know a bit about what you two are able to do from before." Gai started. "I don't know much but I might be able to help the two of you. Kiba, you seem to incorporate some kind of break-dancing into your style."

"Most of the family just uses their claws and the other canine styles." Kiba explained. "I just wanted to try something that would be a bit more unpredictable."

"Impressive." Gai said. "Choji, I believe the Akamichi Clan uses a style that is similar in many ways to Sumo." Choji nodded.

"The philosophy of the Akamichi Taijutsu is 'it's not your weight, it's how you throw it around.'" Choji said.

"Good motto considering how much you guys weigh." Kiba joked and elbowed Choji. Gai was about to scold the Inuzuka, but before he could Lee spoke up.

"It is probably better than being such a light weight as you Kiba." He said with a smile. The three of the laughed like old friends. Gai couldn't help but smile as he watched his student.

"Lee," he said, getting his attention, "do you remember when you master _that_ technique." Lee nodded. "I know you don't remember it, but you accidently took a sip of saki that night. And when you did, you revealed your true fighting style."

"My true style?" Lee asked, thoroughly confused.

"Lee, you are an instinctive master of the Drunken Fist Style." Gai said. "It is a fighting style that allows the user to be very flexible in battle. The only problem is that Lee, you can't hold your liquor so we're going to try and help u use the style on your own."

"Yes Gai-sensei." Lee said.

"Kiba, Choji, you each are strong in either speed or strength." Gai said. "I want to help you develop more speed or strength to help balance you out."

"Yes, Gai-sensei," Kiba and Choji said in unison.

Everyone's day of training went well. Unfortunately, things kind of went downhill at dinner. Ino had noticed a torn picture. Tazuna explained the picture to the Konoha ninja after Inari and Tsunami had left. It turned out that the person in the picture had been the closest thing Inari had ever had to a father and a hero and champion of Wave. Unfortunately, Gato had the man put to death in front of everyone. It shattered the people's hope and courage and really did a number on Inari, turning him into the child he was now. When the story ended, Naruto grabbed his hat and coat.

"Where are you doing Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"I'm going to prove him wrong." Naruto said. "I'm going to show Inari that there are still heroes in this world."

"What about your injury?" asked Kurenai.

"I'm good now." Kakashi said. He walked out of the house with everyone watching him. Lee got up and followed him out. Gai said nothing as he watched his student follow Kakashi's.

"Aren't you going to stop them?" Tazuna asked.

"No, I believe that Naruto is ready to begin his training again." Kakashi said. "And he'll probably want to be making up for lost time."

"Lee is with him so he'll be all right." Gai said. "And I think those two working together will help them."

"Nothing to help a dobe to get stronger than another dobe." Kakashi chuckled. Gai smiled at his 'eternal rival.' Lee and Naruto stood apart from each other in a clearing.

"I've been on that couch for too long Lee," Naruto said as he rotated his joints. "I need you to help me work out the rust."

"It would be my honor Naruto." Lee said getting into his fighting stance. "But don't expect me to go easy on you."

"And don't expect me to be an easy opponent." Naruto replied and crossed his fingers. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" An army of Naruto's appeared before the young taijutsu user. "Let's rock!" the two charged at each other.

_Commercial Break_

_Naruto and Luffy square off against their strongest enemies to date: Buggy the Clown and his final crew member Kiba. Now they will fight side by side to end this psycho clown's reign of terror._

_Later the Straw hats travel to a small island for a simple supply trip but get wrapped up in another crazy adventure._

_Pirate King and the Kaizukukage: Don't get Fooled again._

_Commercial Break End_

Day 6 of training

Naruto lay sleeping against a tree after another all night training session. Lee and the others had helped to work out the rust and help improve his taijutsu. The senseis also helped him in fighting as Kurama. Lee still wanted to take on Naruto like that, but knew he needed to get stronger when he saw Kurama take on all 4 senseis. And it had been one hell of a fight too.

Right now though, Naruto was resting after his latest all night training session. He was shaken from his slumbers by a girl with porcelain skin and long black hair.

"You'll catch your death of cold sleeping out here." She told him.

"I'll be ok," Naruto said. He stood up and worked out the kinks. "So what bring you out here?"

"I need to collect some herbs for an injured companion." The girl said.

"You need a hand?" asked Naruto popping his back.

"That would be nice." The girl said and smiled. "Thank you."

"No problem, so what's your name?" asked Naruto.

"Haku," the girl replied. The two spent the early morning picking herbs for Haku's companion. "What were you doing out here so early."

"I've been training lately; guess I over did it a bit last night." Naruto explained.

"Oh so you're a ninja." Haku said. "You look plenty strong now."

"I'm not." Naruto said seriously. "A dangerous man got close to hurting someone I care about a while ago. I took the hit for her, but I need to get stronger so that no one gets that close ever again."

"I see." Haku said. "This person was precious to you then."

"For a long time she wasn't, but lately," Naruto smiled.

"Do you have many precious people in your life?" Haku asked. Naruto thought about it. Iruka came to mind, and the Hokage, Konohamaru, and the Ichirakus. Then came the senseis and his fellow genin, except maybe Neji and those jokes that would have been his teammates.

"Yeah, I've got a lot of them." Naruto said. "And it's because of them that someday I'll fulfill my dream of being the leader of my village." Haku giggled at him. "Something funny?"

"It's nothing. I think I have enough herbs." Haku said. "I know you'll get stronger Naruto, and we _will_ meet again. So you should probably know…I'm a boy." As **he** walked away, he didn't see Naruto doing an imitation of a fish. This was the sight that his friends came across when they got there.

Day 7

Today was the last day before Zabuza was suspected to be fully healed and Naruto wanted to make sure he was ready for the battle ahead.

"All right guys." Naruto said rotating his joints. "I want you all to come at me, no holding back."

"You got it buddy." Kiba said and charged at Naruto. Naruto just smirked and ran right at him.

Kiba threw a punch that Naruto blocked and then blocked an income claw strike. But Kiba's kick to the head got past Naruto's guard and Kiba knocked him off his feet. Naruto growled and jumped back to his feet. Kiba, still spinning, lashed out with his claws which Naruto blocked. Kiba, still spinning, tried to kick Naruto, but he grabbed his leg and tossed him aside. Kiba landed on his hands and kicked out a Naruto who jumped back. Kiba followed him and sprung off his hands to hit Naruto who blocked the attack. Akamaru tried to hit Naruto but he grabbed him out of the air as Kiba tried to follow his partner's actions. Naruto threw the dog at Kiba. The impact messed with their concentration and Naruto kicked the pair away.

Shino stepped up next. He lashed out with a quick one two punch/backhand combo. Naruto ducked and weaved away from the attacks. He also dodged the kick Shino threw at him. He also pulled away from Shino's punch, but a couple of his bugs grazed him, sapping away some chakra. It was enough to let Shino hit him with a second wave of bugs. Shino flipped up and kicked Naruto in the air and sent a wave of bugs at him. Naruto righted himself in the air and created a quick Shadow Clone.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu! Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" the two Narutos said. The two techniques mixed and flew down at Shino. The bug user jumped back to keep from getting fried.

Hinata charged forward next. Since arriving in Wave and being trained by all four senseis, Hinata's confidence had grown. She had since shed her coat and wore a tight blue shirt. Hinata's arms were blurs as she struck Naruto 6 times before he could defend himself. He was able to block the next 5 strikes and grabbed her arm as she lunged for the final strike.

"You've gotten better Hinata." Naruto whispered before he threw her to where Kiba and Shino were to catch her.

Neji took this opportunity to charge in for the next assault. After Hinata, Naruto was able to parry Neji's attacks and kept them away from where they would do any real damage. Naruto blocked Neji's dropping heel kick, but Neji managed to get a few strikes in on him. He pulled back to hit Naruto again, but Naruto pulled a quick substitution jutsu and Neji ended up shattering a log.

"Konohagakure Hidden Secret Taijutsu Technique:" Naruto said, squatting behind Neji and holding his hands in a tiger hand sign. "One Thousand Years of Death!" Naruto promptly shoved his fingers up Neji's ass, sending the genin flying into a tree. Everyone was stunned that Naruto had used such a technique, that he was had time to pull out a moist towelet and wipe his fingers off. The senseis all whirled at Kakashi.

"How could you," Asuma said.

"He asked for a technique to use on Neji so I gave him that one." Kakashi explained. "And I may have used it on him once or twice." The senseis just shook their heads at Kakashi and turned back to the fight.

Lee was now flying at Naruto. Lee spun around trying to hit Naruto who just jumped off of Lee's blows but then he disappeared. Naruto looked around and saw Lee coming at him from behind with a spinning ax kick that sent Naruto crashing into the ground. Naruto pushed him out.

Tenten came crashing down with a machete in hand. Naruto caught Tenten's blade in his hands and pushed him up into Lee, sending the both away.

Shikamaru appeared behind Naruto, hands in his pockets.

"Yare yare daze," he groaned and went to nail Naruto with a kick. The blow connected and launched Naruto away.

Choji lunged at Naruto with a flying head-butt. Naruto grabbed him by the shoulders and was pushed back several feet. Choji flipped around and turned into a rolling attack. Naruto actually held Choji over his head for a second before throwing him at Shikamaru.

Ino took the opportunity to blindside Naruto. She tried to trip him, but Naruto saw her and stepped over her leg. Ino tried to follow up with a kick to the face, but Naruto caught her leg and spun her around a bit before tossing her safely to Shikamaru and Choji.

Kakashi and Gai each shot each other a look before the charged at Naruto. Kakashi moved forward first and made a quick shadow clone and the two Kakashi's flanked him, each going through hand seals.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu! Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" the Kakashi said. Naruto leapt into the air and actually twisted around the two attacks. He felt the dampness of the dragon on his stomach and the heat of the fireball on his back.

He couldn't right himself as he came back down and Gai appeared over him. Gai then started doing push-ups, saying that if he couldn't do 100 in 5 seconds he'd walk 500 meters on his hands. And while Gai did manage to complete his push-ups, the Naruto with a broken back now disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Thank Kami for Shadow Clones and Substitution Jutsus." Naruto said leaning against a tree panting.

"Naruto, I think you ready to join us in the field." Kakashi said.

"Good, because Zabuza is probably close to full strength again." Kurenai pointed out.

"We'll be ready for him when the time comes." Naruto said. The genin's spent the rest of their day in their teams with Naruto and Kakashi staying at the bridge to watch Tazuna and, for Naruto, lend a couple hundred extra hands. At the end of the day, Naruto and Tazuna returned to the house tired and sweaty.

"Well the bridge is getting closer to being complete." Tazuna said happily. "With those clones of yours kid, it should be completed in no time." Naruto smiled at him.

"Happy to help out Tazuna," Naruto said. Inari watched the scene before him. You could almost feel the anger building inside him. "Something wrong kid?" Naruto asked him.

"You think you're so cool and act so tough, but you're just going to die in the end!" Inari shouted "Gato's too strong! He'll kill you!"

"Shut up brat." Naruto snapped. "We're not going to die."

"You're not from here! You don't know what it's like!" Inari screamed. "You don't know what the pain and hardships are like we have!" This time when the air got colder, the source came from Naruto.

"So you think it's better to wallow in your own self-pity. Do you think it's noble to treat everyone as guests at your own personal pity party?" demand Naruto. "You whiny little brat! You make me sick!" Inari stared at Naruto for a second before running out in tears. Naruto was taking deep breaths.

"I'll be back in a bit, I need to blow a bit of steam." Naruto said and walked out. Everyone was quiet for a moment before the girls all left, shortly followed by Kakashi.

Naruto was standing in a clearing and repeatedly punching a tree.

"Damnit, I shouldn't have lost my temper back there." Naruto cursed. "I mean he's just a kid who's gotten the shit end of the stick, same as me."

"It's because he didn't know what you went through?" asked Ino as she, Hinata, and Tenten entered the clearing.

"Yeah," Naruto shrugged. "But at least I know that has shitty as my life's been, there's probably someone, somewhere out there how's had it worse."

"And when did learn that?" asked Tenten.

"The Old Man told me about it," Naruto said, "when I was about…his age…ah hell," Naruto groaned. He fell back against the tree and slid down. Hinata knelt down next to him.

"A-And now ma-maybe you've ta-taught Inari the sa-same le-lesson." She said. Naruto smiled at them.

"I'll apologize to him later." He said.

"You'd better." Ino said her hand on her hips. "I want to make sure you're good with children, maybe someday our children." She winked at Naruto.

"I-Ino," Naruto blushed Hinata red.

"And not just Ino's kids," Tenten smiled. "Right Hinata?" Now it was Hinata's turn to blush. The other two girls laughed at their reactions.

Day 8

Everyone came down the next morning to find Naruto and Shikamaru sitting across each other.

"But what if we have Tenten come to the bridge?" Naruto said.

"She's good, but her aim wouldn't be very good in mist if Zabuza uses that Jutsu." Shikamaru countered.

"Good point, that probably rules out Ino too." Naruto said. "I mean she's second only to Tenten in throwing weapons, but it's not much use if she can't see where she's throwing." He rubbed his chin in though. "So the tracking team should definitely go." Naruto said. "Including me, that makes 4. 3 more should go, at least one of them a jonin."

"Gai-sensei?" Shikamaru suggested.

"Maybe, either him or Asuma-sensei," Naruto said. "Speaking of, we should have a defender or two at the bridge."

"Neji." Shikamaru said. "I like the guy as little as you do, but he does have the Byakugan." Naruto grit his teeth, but had to admit, Shikamaru was right.

"Fine, but that means Gai and Asuma should be there to make sure he doesn't do anything _really_ stupid." Naruto said.

"What are you guys talking about?" Ino asked, joining the pair.

"We're trying to plan who should go to the bridge and who should stay at the house, just in case." Naruto said. "And I think we just figured it out." He looked at Shikamaru who nodded.

"Kiba, Hinata, and Shino will go to the bridge to back up Naruto, who as Kurama will be our best bet against Zabuza." Shikamaru explained. "Neji will go as extra defense with Gai-sensei and Asuma-sensei supervising."

"Why am I not going with my team?" Kurenai asked.

"In case Zabuza pulls that Hidden Mist Jutsu, your genjutsus won't be very effective but since your team is trackers, they're perfect." Naruto explained. Kurenai nodded.

"All right then, we'll get going as soon as everyone's ready." Asuma said. By the time they left, Inari hadn't come down yet.

"Hey Tsunami, can you tell Inari I'm sorry for what I said last night?" asked Naruto. Tsunami smiled and nodded to him. The group took off down the way to the bridge.

"I don't think you need to apologize to Inari." Tazuna said to Naruto, catching the young Kamen Rider off guard.

"You don't?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think you just said what Inari, what everyone in this town should hear." Tazuna said. "Even though your life might be shitty,"

"There's always someone who might have it shittyer." Naruto finished with a small smile.

When the group reached bridge they found the horrible sight of several of Tazuna's workers injured.

"What happened here?" Tazuna asked, kneeling next to one of his workers.

"They came…from the mist…like demons," the worker groaned.

"Demons?" asked Kiba.

"Zabuza," Naruto growled. A thick mist rolled in.

"Been a while kid." Zabuza's voice echoed through the mist. "How's the back?"

"Healed up quite nicely thank you." Naruto said. "How's coming back from the dead?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Zabuza said. 4 Zabuza popped out of the mist.

"You guys mind handling this?" asked Naruto with a smile. Neji and Team 8 each shot at a Zabuza and blew it apart with quick attacks. "We're not the same kids you went toe to toe with last time Zabuza."

"So it would appear." Zabuza said appearing out of the mist with the fake hunter ninja by his side. "Looks like you might have a few rivals Haku."

"Indeed." Haku replied. Naruto's ears twitched slightly and his eyes widened.

"Haku?" he whispered.

"Looks like we were right about Zabuza and the so called hunter ninja," Asuma said, lighting his cigarette.

"Gai sensei," Naruto said, "take Neji as back-up and deal with Zabuza. Asuma-sensei, stay with Tazuna, the rest of you handle the mid area."

"What are you going to do?" asked Shino.

"I need to see something." Naruto said drawing a kunai. "That was quite the routine you put on before!" he called across the bridge. "But are you just good for extractions or can you actually fight?" Haku flinched slightly.

"Haku, go!" Zabuza barked.

"Yes sir." He said and disappeared in a swirl of water.

_Nice move._ Naruto thought bringing his blade up just in time to catch Haku's needle.

Back at the house, Gato's two samurai thugs burst through the wall. Their plan was easily, grab the girl, maybe the kid, and get the old man to quit work on the bridge and probably kill them all. There was just one little hiccup in their plan. Actually, seven hiccups.

Kurenai, Kakashi, Tenten, Lee, Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji stood in the kitchen glaring at the now sweating samurai wanna-bes.

"Shikamaru," Kakashi said.

"Already have them." Shikamaru said, kneeling down and holding his hands into his family's signature Shadow Possession Jutsu.

"Tenten, would you do the honors." Kurenai asked. Tenten had a sadistic grin on her face.

"Open fire!" she shouted. The other the seven ninja released a barrage of shuriken at the goons, impaling them with a wall of sharp and pointy steel. When they were done, the only think keeping them standing was Shikamaru's jutsu. Once he released it, they collapsed, dead.

"Wow," Inari whispered at the sight before him.

"Inari," Kurenai gasped. "You really shouldn't have seen that." Kakashi put a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him and he nodded to Inari. Kurenai turned her head and saw that Inari was crying.

"I…I want to be stronger, strong enough to protect my mom." He said. "I want to be strong like my daddy and Naruto!" everyone looked at each other and then smiled. They didn't know how he did it, but Naruto had just helped this boy in ways most could never have thought of.

Back on the bridge, Naruto was clashing with the masked ninja, kunai to senbon.

"Leave now, I don't want to have to kill you." He pleaded.

"You know I can't do that Haku." Naruto said. "That is you behind that mask isn't it?"

"Please Naruto." Haku begged.

"So it is you." Naruto said. "Now listen to me Haku, I'm sure you were watching my first fight against Zabuza so you know what I'm capable of when I henshin."

"I'm sorry Naruto; I can't leave Zabuza or disobey his orders." Haku said. "And you should be more focused on defending yourself from my two attacks."

"What do you mean two?" Naruto asked.

"Well, first you have to use your hand to block my senbon," Haku explained and then started going through one-handed seals. "And now you have to protect yourself from my jutsu." Naruto went from confused to shocked as Haku finished the move. His hand flew to his Kyu-Driver.

"Ice Style, Frozen Needles of Death!" Haku said.

"Henshin!" Naruto said at the same time. Haku jumped back as his ice needles were either shattered or melted from the power of Naruto's transformation. While Haku was stunned, team 8 took the chance to attack Haku.

He was hit by Shino's insect swarm, Hinata's double palm blast, and Kiba's Fang over Fang. Zabuza narrowed his eyes.

"Haku, you understand what will happen if things keep going like this don't you?" he said.

"Yes I do." Haku said and the air started getting colder.

"You deal with those three that sucker punched you," Zabuza ordered. "The kid in armor is mine."

"Yes Zabuza," Haku said and held his hand in a single hand sign. "Ice Style, Ice Mirror Prison Jutsu!" the water around team 8 shot into the air and froze becoming mirrors of ice, trapping the genin team.

"That can't be good." Kurama said.

"Remember," Zabuza said appearing before Naruto. "I'm your opponent." He reached for his sword, but had to jump back as Gai came flying in screaming, "Dynamic Entry!"

"Good name for the move." Kurama said as he and Gai stood side by side.

Inside the ice dome, Haku seemed to be standing in all of the mirrors.

"Please don't hold this against me." He requested. The air was suddenly filled with senbon needles of his as they flew around the mirrors, all but cutting the Konoha genin to ribbons.

"Guys!" Kurama shouted before whirling on Zabuza. "You just made a very, _very _big mistake Zabuza."

"Oh I did?" Zabuza asked mockingly.

"Yeah, you gave me a real good reason to kick your ass!" Kurama shouted and charged Zabuza, their swords clashing.

Zabuza threw a side kick at Kurama, which he easily blocked. Zabuza drew his sword and swung it three times, each blocked by Naruto's Rebellion. Zabuza sung his sword up making Kurama jump back, but he was then nailed by Zabuza's thrust kick. The two lunged at each other and clashed blades, sparks flying as they passed.

They spun around and charged at each other again. Zabuza swung his sword upward but Kurama weaved back and forth to avoid the swings and swung his sword around to try and decapitate the Demon of the mist. Zabuza leaned away though and brought his blade down. Kurama pushed the weapon away, but was lifted skyward when Zabuza brought it back up. Kurama twisted around in midair and landed away from Zabuza.

Zabuza was on Kurama in an instant, bringing his sword down. Kurama blocked the weapon, but still got hit by Zabuza's elbow and forearm. He tried to slice Kurama in half, but Kurama blocked it and twisted around to kick Zabuza in the stomach sending him back. The two stood across from each other, panting.

Kurama charged at Zabuza and swung his sword upward, but Zabuza rolled away from the attack and spun around to slash Kurama, who dodged it. He jumped back to avoid Zabuza's follow-up slash, but didn't count on Zabuza vaulting over the blade to kick him in the stomach. Zabuza tried to finish Kurama with a stab, but the Kamen Rider blocked it with the flat side of this blade.

The two leapt towards each other. Zabuza spun his sword like top forcing Kurama to block each one. The Demon tried a strong downward slash, but Kurama blocked it and jumped over Zabuza. Kurama dug his blade into the ground to stop his slide.

Kurama spun the weapon behind his back and started to charge it with energy. Zabuza, who had landed several yards away, was already going through hand signs.  
>"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" The Demon of the Hidden Mist said, calling up a dragon from the water below the bridge.<p>

"O-Ver-Drive!" Kurama countered, slashing his blade three times. The first one dispelled the dragon while the other two his Zabuza, leaving an X-shaped burn on his chest. At least it did before he turned into water.

The real Zabuza came behind Kurama with a somersault slash. Kurama just barely had enough time to block the blade, but the force of the attack made the ground beneath them crack.

"We having fun yet kid?" Zabuza mocked.

"The time of my life!" Kurama shouted back, throwing Zabuza away.

Inside the ice dome, Shino pushed himself up, panting as blood dripped from his wounds.

"Kiba, Hinata, are you ok?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm ok." Hinata said.

"We're still breathing," Kiba said, while Akamaru barked weakly. "Did you by any chance see what the hell just hit us Hinata?"

"I-It was al-almost too much, but it lo-looked like he was th-throwing senbons be-between the mirrors." Hinata said.

"Like Naruto using his shadow clones?" Shino asked, trying to think of a plan. Hinata nodded.

"So these guys are just Shadow Clones huh?" Kiba asked with a smirk. "Let's go Akamaru."

"Kiba, wait!" shouted Shino, but too late.

"Fang over Fang!" the Inuzuka said as he and Akamaru started bouncing between the mirrors. He was blown out of the sky as Haku unleashed another swarm of senbons at him. "What was that?"

"Th-They're not Shadow Clones." Hinata said. "It's like each reflection in the mirrors is him."

"What kind of jutsu is this?" Shino asked.

Back outside, Kurama and Zabuza were slowly circling each other.

"It's a kekki genkai isn't it?" Kurama asked, jerking his head towards the dome. Zabuza had a smug look on his face. "The ice jutsu, it's a bloodline right?"

"Very perceptive boy," Zabuza said. "Yes, that boy is one of the few blessed with a power that is passed down through the generations. It allows him to teleport between the mirrors and rather meticulously."

"So he's bouncing around between mirrors huh?" asked Kurama, smirking behind his mask. "You guys get that?" he shouted.

"Clear as day." Kiba called back. "You guys ready for this?" he asked as his appearance became more feral.

"What are you all talking about?" Haku asked from the mirrors.

"The three of us were assembled to be a tracking team." Hinata explained, activating her Byakugan.

"And now that we know what's going on, we're going to track you down." Shino finished, releasing his insects.

"Those three are going to track down you little friend." Kurama said and withdrew a white disk from a compartment on his buckle. "While I kick your ass Rider style." He slid the disk into the pommel of his sword and spun it, causing the skull's mouth to open.

**[ARMS MODE!]** A voice said and Kurama was covered in a bright light.

_**All right, that's that. Yeesh,long freaking chapter and not much action I'm sorry to say. :/ More in the next chapter and some romance action. And not just for Naruto ;) but until then,**_

_**READ AND REVIEW!please**_


	4. The new Opponents

_**Ok, time to the next chapter. But before I get to the fan mail, I'd like to request say 2 things. First, about this story, if anyone still wants fight music, I need requests. Again, please nothing that's already used by the Kamen Rider franchise. Second, the authors of several stories I like to read have brought to my attention that has been erasing stories for reasons such as lemons or scenes that are 'too violent,' and doesn't giving any kind of warning. This is BS in my opinion, but I don't run anything on the sight.**_

_**So if anyone who actually does read this story, first of, thank you, and second, figure out a better way, like warning a person that they're crossing the line before you delete them, or just create a new rating for these kinds of things. And to my loyal readers, if you're authors yourselves, please pass this message along.**_

_**And now that the serious stuff is out of the way, FAN MAIL TIME!**_

_**JJB88: we'll see about the jean jacket, and I would love to hear your idea.**_

_**deadw8, yeah it's on hiatus, sorry.**_

_**Leaf Ranger: I might try getting those two paired off, but that'll be later in the story.**_

_**Volos: My reasoning for Zabuza beating the four jonin in the last chapter is that he used his skill and deception to knock them into the water, like he actually did with Kakashi in the manga. As for Mei, sorry but I don't plan on that happening.**_

_**Dragon Man 180: I didn't mean for Naruto to be giving order, just making suggestions that the jonin happened to agree with. And I'll admit, the last chap did drag a bit, I was trying to focus on character development a bit.**_

_**Shizuka Taiyou: all your questions shall be answered.**_

_**god of all: thanks and here you go.**_

_**red neo ranger: I'm glad to hear it.**_

_**All right, that's the end of that, now on with the show!**_

_**As always, I don't own a thing. :/**_

When the light around Kurama faded, his armor had changed. His armor had gone from red and orange to white and black respectively. His sword had disappeared and the armor around his forearms and shins looked were bulging slightly and armored, looking like gauntlets and greaves. The gantlets appeared to have rockets on the backs of them and what looked to be buzz saws at the heels of his greaves.

"Well, that's interesting." Zabuza growled as he examined Kurama's new form.

"Isn't it though?" Kurama said, cracking his knuckles. "My armor has lots of special skills and tricks like that, but more on that later, if at all." He lowered his fist and started bouncing on his feet. "This is where our battle reaches its climax Zabuza. Let's rock!"

_Musical intro_

_Naruto stands on the Hokage Monument with his arms crossed as the sun rises over the village. Title Screen comes up. __**Naruto X Kamen Rider: Kamen Rider Kurama!**_

_Kanvai ta kuchibiru Ite tsuku taiyou ni Sara sare te (My dried lips are being exposed to the frozen sun.)_

_Naruto sits sadly on a swing. Iruka comes over and offers him his hand smiling. Naruto smiles back and takes the hand._

_Afureru namida ga Shitataru mabushi sade Boku no nazoru kara (My over flowing tears are tracing back to me under the dripping radiant.)_

_Naruto runs as the people and places of the Naruto series pass behind him._

_Tarinai kasho no Tada umeau youni Kimi no motomete ita (As if compensating for each other's weakness, my life yearns for your presence.)_

_Naruto activates his driver and shouts, "Henshin!_

_Fure au yubi ni Tsutanaru setsunasa dake no Kaki atsumete (As our fingers come into contact, only our contagious miseries are being piled upon.)_

_Kurama Arms Mode slams his fist against Zabuza's blade_

_Kodou no oku ni Kazasu negai no Sadame to iu nara (If the wishes that I uphold beneath my heartbeat are called "destiny.")_

_Alongside Gai and Asuma, Kurama Arms Mode tears through Gato's army of thugs._

_noko sareta kioku nakushita kimi no omo kake ga (the members I left behind and your forgotten face,_

_Iruka looks out the window. The Third Hokage smiles as Konohamaru cheers in front of him_

_ima mo oki sari no ma ma (even now, will still be left abandoned.)_

_Naruto stands on Hokage tower with The Third Hokage, Konohamaru, Iruka, Kakashi, and Teams 8, 10, and Team Gai behind him. _

Inside the ice dome, team 8 stood in a circle. Each of them was channeling chakra into their respective talents for tacking: Kiba and Akamaru's noses were flaring, Hinata's Byakugan were pulsing, and Shino's insects were flying around them in a field.

"Income!" Kiba shouted. "Hinata's 1:00!" the group scattered and avoided Haku's next attack. He flew past them and into the next mirror.

"Shino, he's coming at you from above!" Hinata cried. Shino jumped back with just a split second to avoid a pierce from Haku's senbon. Shino quickly reacted and unleashed a swarm of insects at Haku who quickly retreated into a mirror.

"The three of you are impressive." Haku admitted. "To be able to keep up with me is no small feat."

"You should know though, that this game is now over." Shino said. He turned and faced a particular mirror. "During my last attack, I was able to place a female insect on you."

"So now where ever you run to hide, Shino can track you." Kiba grinned happily and placed his hand on his teammate's shoulder.

"P-Please sur-surender." Hinata said. "It's cl-clear you're im-important to Naruto."

"As are you, I can tell." Haku said. "I don't want to harm you, but I cannot disobey my mater Zabuza."

"Why do you follow him?" Shino asked.

"Because of my bloodline, my father…tried to kill me after he killed my mother." Haku said. The Konoha nin were all shocked by this. "But I instinctively used my bloodline and killed him first. After that, I was on the streets until Zabuza found me. He took me in, trained me, and gave me a purpose. I am his tool and will act as he commands."

"I can understand wanting to follow a strong Alpha who you feel gave you purpose." Kiba said. "But no member of a pack is a tool; each member has a part to play and has the right to make their own decisions."

"That's right." Hinata said. "Zabuza has you as no-nothing but a sl-slave."

"I am master Zabuza's tool." Haku repeated.

"Guess we'll just have to knock some sense into you the old fashion way, right Akamaru?" said Kiba. The dog barked in response.

"How can you do that if you can't even get me out of these mirrors?" Haku asked.

"Hinata, push your chakra into that mirror." Shino said, pointing at one of the mirrors. Hinata did that and pushed her chakra through it, to everyone's surprise the mirror shattered and fragments flew into all the other mirrors, including the one Haku had been in.

"Unbelievable." Haku gasped as the mirrors all started to crack and finally shatter.

"It's amazing what Hyuga chakra control can do, isn't it?" Shino asked. "Kiba, Hinata, let's finish this and help Naruto."

Meanwhile, Kurama and Zabuza were clashing with each other. Zabuza noticed that while Kurama's overall had become faster and a bit stronger. The only major difference was that the form he was in now seemed to be geared more towards taijutsu as oppose to his regular form's kenjutsu.

Kurama started by throwing a one-two punch which Zabuza blocked. The combo continued with a powerful barrage of kicks. He finished with a strong revolving kick that sent Zabuza staggering back. Zabuza looked over his sword, which he'd been using as a shield against Kurama's attacks. Though he'd had his guard up the entire fight, Zabuza had noticed something about Kurama's attacks. When he would punch, the things on his gauntlets would emit fire, increasing the punch's speed and power. And during those kicks, the saws on his feet would spin, increasing the damage from each kick. While Zabuza was busy pondering his next move, Kurama charged at him, his fist pulled back.

"Ri," he roared as his fist struck Zabuza's sword. "der," the device on his arm started to burn and it actually cracked the blade. Zabuza's eyes widened; if he had eyebrows they would have probably raised. "Punch!" he finished with a roar, Kurama pushed more power into his gauntlet. A spike shot out and the power pushed Kurama into the air. Zabuza flew skyward with him and his sword broke in two.

"Let me give you one chance Zabuza, out of respect for your power and skill." Kurama said. "Give up now, and I won't kill you." Panting, Zabuza reached down and picked up the half of his sword that still had its handle.

"Sorry kid, but I'm going to go down fighting before I just quit." He said.

Team 8 charged at Haku. Kiba and Akamaru got there first.

"Let's go Akamaru!" the Inuzuka declared. The pair quickly preformed their Beast Mimicry/Beast Clone Jutsus. One of the Kiba's nailed Haku with an uppercut while the other followed up with a second spinning slash, sending the ice user flying into the air. Hinata leapt into the air to follow him and bombarded him with an assault of Juken strokes before blasting him to the ground.

"Eat this!" Shino said, raising his hand. A funnel of insects rose up around Haku. "You have to keep an ace up your sleeve!" the funnel completely enclosed Haku, who could feel his chakra being sucked away. "Parasitic insects! Pupa!" the funnel closed around Haku. He fell to the ground, drained of chakra his mask in pieces around him. "Well done you two." Shino complemented his teammates. Hinata nodded to him. Kiba chuckled and crossed his arms.

"I'm…sorry…Zabuza." Haku groaned. "I've…failed."

Kurama looked at Zabuza as the former demon readied his sword.

"Well, I honestly didn't expect you to just quit. You wouldn't be the man you are if you had." He said. "I suppose this is the end. Goodbye Zabuza." The blades on his feet started spinning and charged at Zabuza. "Rider Kick!" he roared.

Haku's eyes snapped open. He could sense that Zabuza's life was in danger. Using the little strength he had, he shot in between Zabuza and Kurama. Kurama saw him appear and froze with his leg just inches from Haku's head.

"Haku," both Zabuza and Kurama whispered.

"I will protect Zabuza with my life." Haku said. "If you want to kill him Naruto, you will have to kill me too." The three of them stood that way for several seconds. Then, Kurama lowered his legs. Zabuza tightened the grip on his sword, but froze when he felt steel against his throat.

"Don't." Asuma growled. Gai appeared before Zabuza next, squeezing between Haku and Zabuza. His fist was an inch away from Zabuza's heart.

"If you as much as twitch in a threatening way, we will kill you." He warned. Haku tried to move but found that it was taking all his strength just to stand.

Zabuza looked around, weighing his options. Haku being able to stand was clearly a miracle in and of itself, if he moved at all, either Asuma would slit his throat, or Gai would cave his chest in. and even he somehow got past them, there was still that Kurama kid. There was only one option, left to him: he dropped his sword.

"Well, looks like the demon has lost his claws." Said an obnoxious voice at the unfinished end of the bridge. Everyone turned to see a 5 foot man in a business suit with a cast on his arm and a walking stick standing with a large group of mercenaries. "Of course, it's not like I had planned on paying you anything. Personally I was hoping you'd all wipe each other out."

"Gato," Zabuza growled at the midget.

"So that's the little bastard who made life here Hell." Kurama said turning to the crowd.

"And it looks like he's brought a small army with him." Asuma said as he and Gai released Zabuza and stood beside Kurama. "Looks like we're in for another fight,"

"You need some help?" Hinata asked.

"No, look after Zabuza and Haku while the three of us deal with this." Gai ordered.

"Come again?" Kiba asked.

"Understood." Shino said. "Since they're not getting paid, Zabuza no longer has a reason to kill Tazuna. Therefore, he is no longer our enemy, correct?"

"Smart kid." Zabuza said as he and Haku fell down. "Hey, you in the armor." Kurama glanced back at Zabuza. "Kick that little bastard's ass for me." Kurama turned back and gave him a thumbs up.

'I'll see what I can do." He said. "Gai-sensei, Asuma-sensei, shall we?"

"Hai!" the pair said and the trio shot into the crowd. Kurama was the first to reach the crowd. His right shoulder glowed red for a second and two wing like appendages sprang out. Kurama began working his way through the crowd, pulling off the appendages and stabbing nearby mercenaries with them. When he finished, he snapped his fingers and the blades exploded, killing whoever was stabbed and injuring anyone too close.

He switched weapons, now a light blue glow appeared at the small of his back and he drew a tri-chuck. He whipped the weapon around his body, leaving anyone who got stuck by the weapon by the weapon not only suffered blunt force, but where ever they were hit also froze, he spun the weapon around his body, shattering all the ice in the area and blowing back those who were too close.

His next set of attacks came from a pair of serrated scimitars. The one in his left hand was blue with the kanji for wind for its hilt guard while the one in his right was red with a fire kanji hilt guard. Kurama charged through the crowd, his swung his swords expertly. Anyone cut by the fire blade, suffered from burns while anyone who was even just close to the wind blades still suffered from their slashes.

"Now, let's really rock!" Kurama said and in a flash of purple light was now holding a guitar. He started playing a hard rock guitar riff and bats made out of lightning flew of the guitar and struck the mercenaries. The power of the guitar was enough to bring down lighting from the clear skies above to fry the opposition.

"Naruto's amazing youth is quite powerful!" Gai said as he wiped out his own opponents with incredible speed and strength.

"You say amazing, I say scary." Asuma replied and bisected 3 mercenaries with a single swing. Kurama turned his gaze to Gato, who was hiding behind a large group of mercenaries.

"You're turn you little bastard." Kurama growled and the blades on his feet started spinning again. "Rider Kick!" he charged into the group of mercenaries and unleashed a barrage of spinning kicks. The kicks literally cut through everyone in Kurama's way and finished with a rising kick that left Gato without any guards.

"Wow, I'm glad he didn't hit us with that, right Zabuza?" Haku said as Hinata tended to him. When his master didn't answer, Haku looked around. "Zabuza?"

"Over there." Kiba pointed. Zabuza was standing over the butchered bodies of several mercenaries, his sword perfectly repaired.

"Had to fix my sword." He said before rejoining his group. Everyone just nodded slightly dumbfounded.

Gato was backing away in fear as Kurama stalked towards him.

"P-P-Please," he whimpered. "Don't hurt me; I'll give you whatever you want."

"Whatever I want?" Kurama growled. "Can you give back the lives you've taken? Can you take the sorrows you've given these people and replace them with joy? Can you do that YOU LITTLE BASTARD!" He grabbed Gato by the front of his shirt and lifted him up. With a roar he turned and threw Gato towards the end of the bridge. Everyone, the remaining mercenaries, Zabuza and Haku, the Konoha ninja, watched as he flew over everyone. "Time to count up your sins Gato." Kurama said.

Gato crashed and rolled to the end of the bridge and right to the feet of Inari. And he wasn't the only one. It seemed like all of Wave had arrived and were armed and ready for battle. Inari himself was wearing a helmet and clutching a cross bow. Gato looked up at the boy. Inari glared back and lowered his crossbow.

"P-P-Please don't kill me." Gato whimpered.

"I want you to remember this feeling." Inari growled. "The fear, the weakness, the helplessness, this is what you brought to Wave." His finger tightened on the trigger. Gato closed his eyes and waited. There was the thawp of the bowstring and the thunk of the arrow making contact. Gato opened his eyes slowly and looked to see that the arrow had missed him and now landed to his left. "I want you to remember that feeling for the rest of you miserable existence Gato." Inari said.

"Well said Inari." Kurama said as he approached the group. He glanced back at the remaining mercenaries. "Anyone want to try and take over this place now?" The mercs all did the smart thing and ran like hell back to the boat they'd arrived on. "Didn't think so." Kurama chuckled and released his henshin. "So Inari, what are you all going to do with this piece of trash?"

"Find the deepest, darkest hole in all of Wave and throw him in." Inari said, still glaring at Gato.

"Sounds appropriate for a criminal like him." Tazuna said. "Everyone thank you for coming." He bowed to the crowd.

"Thank Inari." One of the townspeople said. "He's the one who inspired us to stand up against Gato."

"Inari," Tazuna said, looking down at his grandson.

"Nice work kid." Naruto said, putting his hand on the boy's head. "I'm sure you dad is proud of you. You've really followed in his footsteps."

The week that followed were…interesting. For starters, Zabuza had taken it upon himself to become 'The Guardian Demon of Wave,' so that he could make sure that someone like Gato never caused trouble for the land again. Haku meanwhile, after a long talk with Zabuza, who he was now calling his father, was going to be going with the Konoha ninja back home to become an official ninja. There had been some suspicion to this, but it was eventually agreed upon. And Haku wasn't the only one going back with them to Konoha, after much pleading, Inari had convinced both his mother and Naruto to let him go to Konoha as Naruto's next student.

Since there was no longer the threat of Gato hanging over their heads, all of Tazuna's workers returned to completing the bridge. Between them and the Konoha ninja, who all used the bridge building as a form of training in things like strength and chakra control, and even a little jutsu training. When the bridge was finished, the entire town had a village had a party that lasted long into the night. The only disturbance was when Lee accidently drank a little drop of saki. Though he was loopy, Lee got the fight from Kurama that he'd been wanting. They nearly destroyed a couple of buildings during their fight, but it eventually came to a draw.

Before long it came time for them all to go home. Everyone had everything packed up to leave and Naruto had summoned a 4 tailed demon fox named Yongo for Inari to ride back to Konoha.

"You sure you won't come with us?" Haku asked Zabuza.

"Nah, this place needs a guardian," Zabuza said. "Even if it is a guardian demon."

"We're lucky to have you Zabuza." Tsunami said, taking Zabuza's hand. Haku gave her father a knowing smirk as he started to turn red. "Haku, would you mind looking after Inari in the village. I know Naruto will be there, but an extra set of eyes wouldn't hurt."

"Sure, I don't mind looking after my soon to be little brother." Haku said with a smile.

"Inari, be as careful as you can." Tsunami said to her son. "Train hard with Naruto and become a strong and proper ninja."

"I will mom." Inari said, hugging his mother.

"You're ok, training my grandson and all?" Tazuna asked Naruto.

"To be honest, I won't be training him for a while and I already have another student back in Konoha, but I think they'll get along ok and I'll make sure he gets the best teacher at the academy."

"Thank you," Tazuna said and shook Naruto's hand. "For everything,"

"No problem Old timer, just make sure you pay Konoha what you owe when you're able." Naruto said. "So what are you going to call this bridge anyway?"

"I was thinking the Bridge of Heroes." Tazuna said. "What do you think?"

"Sounds good." Naruto said. And so with some tears and many cheers, the Konoha ninja took off for home. Without having to move at civilian pace, the group quickly made it to Konoha just as the sun was beginning to set. Kakashi lead the group to the Hokage tower where everyone gave the report. The Hokage nodded as everyone told their story, his pipe in his hand.

"I see, thank you all, and we're sure that Tazuna will make good on the payments?" Sarutobi asked.

"He will." Naruto said. "I figure we give him a month before going and getting the rest of the pay."

"It was rather reckless, going from a C rank mission to an A rank, even if you did request backup." The Hokage scolded.

"That's on me Old Man." Naruto said. "I was the one who convinced everyone to keep on with the mission." The old man smoked on his pipe a bit more before nodding.

"Since everything went ok, I'll let it slide this time." He said. "Now, who are these two?" he gestured to Inari and Haku.

"I am Haku Momochi, the adoptive son of Zabuza Momochi." Haku explained. "I was hoping the join Konoha's ranks. I possess some medical knowledge as well as the Ice-Jutsu bloodline." The Hokage stroked his chin.

"Have you ever been a part of any ninja village?" he asked.

"No sir." Haku said.

"Then you shall be put on a probationary period, as Kakashi's student and Naruto's partner." The Hokage declared. Naruto and Haku looked at each other and smiled. "And who is the boy?"

"My name is Inari Lord Hokage sir." Inari said. "I want to become a ninja and someday train under Naruto-Sensei." He bowed to Sarutobi.

"Another student eh Naruto?" The Hokage said with a smile. "Very well, I will see to it that you are enrolled in the ninja academy in the same class as your future teammate. And now I think it's time we all called it a night." Everyone bowed and left the room, everyone that it, except Naruto. "Something I can help you with Naruto?"

"It's just that I told Haku and Inari that they could live with me, and my apartment is too small so," Naruto trailed off.

"You think it's time you inherited your parent's house." Sarutobi finished.

"Yeah," Naruto nodded.

"Personally I think that this has been a long time coming." The Hokage said and approached the picture of the Fourth Hokage. He pulled the picture back to reveal a safe. "Naruto, please wipe your blood on this." Naruto nodded and did as the Hokage requested. The safe opened to reveal a small wooden box. "Inside here Naruto is your inheritance, the keys to your family house, scrolls on your parent's techniques, and their personal diaries."

"Thanks Old Man." Naruto said. "And feel free to stop by whenever you want to, Konohamaru too."

"Thank you Naruto and here's a map to your new home." The Hokage said. Naruto took the map and walked out. Haku and Inari were waiting for him.

"Come on guys, let's go home." He said with a smile. The map lead the trio to a rather modest two story mansion. It was a 5 bedroom, 2.5 baths with a large yard, kitchen, a study, and a training room. All Naruto could think was that it was good to be home.

_Commercial break!_

_Learning of a retired pirate's plot, the Straw Hat Pirates prepare to fight a secret war for the village's defense. But during that time, Naruto's inner demon finds its way to temporary freedom. And later, while looking for a cook for the ship, the Straw Hats find a floating restraint and with it, trouble._

_The Pirate King and the Kaizukokage: the Black Cat Pirates._

_End Commercial_

The next day

Naruto awoke in his new home and went down to make breakfast, but found that Haku was already doing that.

"Morning Naruto." He said.

"Hey Haku, I didn't know you cooked." Naruto said.

"Yeah I did all the cooking for me and dad." Haku said. "Would you mind waking up Inari?"

"Yeah sure," Naruto said with wave. He went into the room that Inari had picked out and shook him awake. Inari smacked his hand away and rolled over. Naruto got a wicked grin on his face and went through a few hand seals. "Water Style: Water gun Jutsu!" He said and spat a blob of water at Inari, making him scramble awake. "Morning sunshine." He said with a smirk.

"I hate you right now." Inari groaned. Naruto just smiled.

"Just get dressed." Naruto said. "Haku's making breakfast and then I'm gonna take you to the ninja academy." He left Inari alone and went back to the kitchen where Haku was setting the table.

"You know, growing up, I always wanted siblings." He said off handedly. "And now in one night, I've got an older one and a younger one."

"I'm guessing I'm the big brother." Haku smirked.

"Yeah," Naruto smiled. "So what are you doing today?"

"I'm gonna take care of some paperwork that'll make me an official ninja of Konoha." Haku said. "What about you?"

"Well I heard that the senseis were all giving us all the day off today after such a crazy mission." Naruto said. "So I'm gonna help out Lee with his wardrobe, feel free to join us by the way." He ducked under a senbon thrown by Haku. "And then I've got a date with the girls tonight."

"All three of them?" Haku asked.

"Yeah, I'm just that amazing." Naruto said with a smile. After that, Inari came down and the group ate in silence. When they were done and dressed, they all left to handle their separate errands.

_Naruto & Inari_

Naruto and Inari walked side by side as Naruto lead Inari to the ninja academy. As they made their way there, many people looked at them and muttered to each other.

"Just ignore them Inari." Naruto said. "They're just ignorant fools." Inari nodded and together they entered the academy.

"Naruto-sensei!" Konohamaru shouted and jumped at his future teacher. Naruto caught the boy and set him down.

"Hey Konohamaru, been training hard?" Naruto said. Konohamaru nodded and then he noticed Inari.

"Hey sensei, who's the guy in the bucket hat?" Konohamaru asked. Naruto smiled and squatted down to the boys' level.

"Konohamaru, this is my other student, Inari." Naruto introduced. Konohamaru smiled and stuck his hand out.

"Nice to meet you partner." He said.

"P-Partner?" Inari said.

"Sure, Naruto's our teacher and until we get a third, it's just us." Konohamaru explained. "So, for now, we're partners." Inari nodded and smiled back, shaking Konohamaru's hand.

"Hello Naruto." Iruka said, coming up behind the group.

"Hey Iruka-sensei." Naruto said. "Inari, this is your teacher, Iruka Umino, the best teacher in this academy."

"Well I wouldn't say the best." Iruka said, rubbing the back of his head. Their reunion was cut short as an ANBU appeared before the group.

"Naruto Uzumaki is being summoned to a council meeting." He said. Naruto groaned.

"Iruka-sensei, I leave my students in your more than capable hands." Naruto said, before turning back to the ANBU. "Let's get this over with." The ANBU nodded and touched Naruto's shoulder before they disappeared in a swirl of wind and leaves.

_With Haku_

Haku made his way to the Hokage's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in." the Hokage called. Haku entered the office.

"Ah, hello Haku." The Hokage said. "If I could get you to sign these forms" he slid some papers to Haku. The ice user looked them over before signing his name next to the spots. "All right, now we just need a picture for our records."

But before the Hokage could send Haku to get his picture taken, there was a knock at the door.

"Enter." The Hokage called. His secretary poked her head into the room.

"I'm sorry to disturb you Lord Hokage, but the council has called a meeting." She said. The Hokage groaned.

"What about?" he asked.

"Something about Naruto's new living arrangements and something involving Haku." She said.

"Very well." The Hokage said. "Haku, please follow me." The old Fire Shadow led Haku down to his least favorite room in the Hokage tower, the council meeting chambers. When they reached the doors, there was a swirl of wind and leaves. From that whirl appeared Naruto and an ANBU. The ANBU bowed to the Hokage, who nodded in return, before disappearing in another swirl.

"Hey Haku, Old Man," Naruto said, his hands in his pockets. "So you got called to this thing too?"

"Looks like." Haku said.

"Well, just a heads up, trust the Shinobi council to have your back and don't believe a thing the civilians say." Naruto warned. "Those old farts just want to try to increase their own power and wealth."

"Thanks for the warning." Haku said. Together, the three of them entered the meeting hall. As the Hokage made his way to his seat, Naruto pointed out each of the clan heads, as well as Azulong on the civilian council. He also pointed out Danzo, Koharu, and Homura as civilians to be wary of.

"All right, let's get this over with." Hiruzen said. "Why was this meeting called?"

"Lord Hokage, I have received word that that boy," Danzo growled, pointing at Naruto, "has taken up residence in our Fourth Hokage's previous house."

"Yeah, what's your point?" Naruto asked.

"You will respect your betters boy!" said a fat civilian.

"My betters?" Naruto laughed. "There are only a handful of people in this room who are my betters you fat sack of shit, and they're ninja." He then turned to Danzo. "And what do you care if I moved in there? Worried you haven't stolen all of the treasures it possesses?" Danzo showed no reaction to Naruto's jab, but the grip on his walking-stick tightened.

"I merely think that such trash should not be permitted into the home of Konoha's greatest hero." Danzo said calmly. Naruto sent a look up to the Hokage and nodded. The Hokage, understanding, nodded in return.

"So why shouldn't I be allowed to move into my parent's house?" Naruto asked. This caused a whole new uproar amongst the council, most the civilian side.

"Enough!" the Hokage roared.

"Lord Hokage, you cannot let this brat be allowed to move into the Fourth's house nor let him call himself his son." A civilian roared.

"But he is Minato's son." Inoichi Yamanaka said. "Kami rest his and Kushina's souls."

"Kushina?" screeched an older woman with pale pink hair. "That red haired tramp?" in a flash, Naruto was in the woman's face and had a kunai poised at her throat.

"Insult my mother again," he said in a low growl. "And it will be the _last_,"he emphasized his point by pressing the blade harder against her throat and leaving a thin line of blood, "thing you ever do in this life time."

"Naruto, stand down." The Hokage said. With a final glare, Naruto retracted his kunai and returned to his place beside Haku. "Inoichi is correct, Naruto is the son of the Fourth Hokage, my own late wife helped to bring him into the world."

"It's about time you let the cat out of the bag." Said Tsume Inuzuka.

"I'm surprised you're using that phrase Lady Inuzuka." Naruto said with a smirk. "I'm guessing you all knew about my heritage."

"Of course." Said Shikaku Nara lazily. "All six of us had worked with your mom or dad at least once in our ninja careers. You look just like them. Act like your mom too." He added with a smirk

"And from what I've heard from you're just as tactically skilled as your father." Choza Akimichi added. Naruto couldn't help but smile at this. He felt honored to be compared to his parents.

"This is ludicrous!" Koharu shouted. "What proof do we have that this is really the Fourth's son?"

"You mean besides the looks, the attitude, the words of all six ninja clan heads and the Hokage himself?" Naruto asked, counting off with his fingers. "Look, I don't care you assholes accept me as my parent's son. I am who I am. So it's simple," he let released some Killing Intent as he glared at the civilians. "Get on board or get. Out. Of. My. Way." Many of the Civilian Council got nervous and kept quiet. Even the former ninja on the council didn't want to piss Naruto off for fear he'd tap into his demonic power.

"Well, if that matter is over with." The Hokage said. "what is this matter concerning young Haku?"

"Yes," Homura said, regaining his composure. "If has come to our attention that young Haku is a fugitive of the Hidden Mist Village,"

"Let me stop you right there," the Hokage said. "I have received word from several reliable parties that Haku was never part of the Hidden Mist Village."

"Well if he is going to be to be part of this village, then due to his possession of a bloodline, he will be put under the Clan Restoration Act." Danzo declared.

"The what?" Haku asked.

"The Clan Restoration Act, or CRA, was a plan implemented during the early days of the village to ensure that powerful bloodlines, such as yours Haku, would not become extinct." The Hokage explained. "It requires those who are the last to possess the bloodline to take on multiple spouses to ensure that the bloodline would continue to life on."

"Is the Uchiha-teme under this CRA thing too?" Naruto asked.

"You will respect Lord Uchiha!" shouted that pink haired councilwoman. A kunai quickly implanted itself by her head.

"That bastard doesn't deserve any kind of respect since you guys spoiled him." Naruto said. "Hey Old Man, you mind if I see the law about this CRA thing?"

"Why should you be allowed to see our laws?" demanded Koharu.

"Enough Koharu." Hiruzen said. He rummaged around under his desk before pulling out a large leather bond book. He signaled to a hidden ANBU and handed the book to him. The ANBU in turn handed it to Naruto. "You are looking for Section B, subsection N, paragraph G."

"Thank you." Naruto waved and flipped through the book. "Let's see, here we go, section B, subsection N, paragraph G. Hmmm…last of their bloodline…take on multiple spouses…keep bloodline from dying out…hello, what's this."

"What did you find?" Haku asked.

"Well it says here that while the CRA is preferred, it doesn't say that it is mandatory." Naruto said with a smile. "This means that Haku here doesn't have to participate. I'm guessing the Uchiha isn't either since he isn't actually commenting to all those girls who practically threw themselves at him." He handed the book back to the ANBU who returned it to the Hokage. Hiruzen looked over it and gave a small smile.

"It would appear that Naruto is correct, Haku _does not_ have to take part in the CRA." He said. The civilian council started to object but the Hokage released a wave of KI to shut them up. "This meeting is over." The civilian council slowly left, shooting glares at Naruto, who shot them right back.

"Thanks for getting me out of that Naruto." Haku said.

"I just didn't want those assholes getting their way and trying to set you with their daughters. I bet that pink haired bitch was Sakura's mom." Naruto said. "But you don't want the whole multiple wives thing?"

"Unlike you my friend, I would prefer to be a one woman man." Haku smirked.

"Let me just say on record that the dating those three was their idea, not mine." Naruto said quickly. He glanced around and saw Inoichi, Azulong and Hiashi Hyuga walking towards him. "And here come their fathers and grandfather," he said and glanced over to see Haku had disappeared. "Quick bastard," he muttered and looked back before turning back to the concerned parents/grandparent. "Gentlemen, what can I do for you all." The said with a smile.

"It has come to our collective attention that you wish to date Inoichi's daughter, Azulong's granddaughter, and my oldest daughter." The Hyuga Head said, giving Naruto the patented Hyuga glare.

"Yeah about that." Naruto said quickly. "The idea was originally floated to me during our mission by Hinata and Ino. Though I would assume that it was more Ino's idea since Hinata was still rather timid let's say."

"And Tenten?" asked Azulong.

"That was actually my idea." Naruto said sheepishly. "I've had a bit of a crush on here for a while now. And you know how did you three even know that I had a date with the three of them tonight?"

"We're their fathers; it's our jobs to know who they plan to be with." Inoichi said.

"You read their diaries didn't you?" Naruto asked. All three suddenly looked away. Naruto sighed and shook his head.

"Look, I get that you're just looking out for them, and I respect it." Naruto said. "And I give you all my word that I will treat each and every one of the girls like the princesses they are."

"You'd better." Azulong threatened. "Or else I'll use you for target practice."

"After I close off all of his chakra points 100 times." Hiashi added.

"And I give him the mind of a five year old girl." Inoichi finished. Naruto gulped nervously and nodded to the trio of men. With that the group left the meeting room. Naruto found Haku standing outside.

"Thanks for backing me up back that." Naruto said.

"Hey, you taking on your girlfriends' fathers is your own business." Haku said. "And don't act like you won't do the same to me when the time comes."

"I wasn't planning on it, but I will be now." Naruto growled. "Anyway, now you're coming with me." He started to push Haku from behind.

"And where are we going?" Haku asked.

"To get you a haircut and a new set of cloths." Naruto said. "Unless you want to be mistaken for a girl all the time." Haku sighed and let him get taken.

They soon found themselves outside of Chignon Weapons Shop. They entered and found a daydreaming Tenten at the counter and Lee looking through the cloths.

"Naruto, Haku," Lee said, snapping Tenten from her dreams. "What are you two doing here?"

"Naruto's forcing me to get a haircut and change of clothes." Haku said.

"What about you Lee?" asked Naruto.

"I'm here for the same." Lee said. "After my talk with Naruto, I want to be the first Rock Lee, not the second Might Gai."

"So, it looks like we're getting two haircuts." Tenten said. "Who's first?" Haku was about to suggest Lee but Naruto pushed him forward. "All right Haku, let's head back shall we." Tenten took Haku's arm and drug him back while he glared at Naruto.

"All right Lee, what kind of outfit do you want?" Naruto said, leading his friend back into the cloths.

When their shopping trip ended, Haku now had shoulder length hair and was sporting blue shinobi pants, sandals, a white shirt, and a powder blue battle coat with glaciers along the bottom and snowflakes on it. Lee meanwhile had his hair cut into a crew cut and wore a simple green martial arts gi.

"Naruto," Tenten called as the three left the store. "I'm really looking forward to tonight." She winked at him. Naruto replied with his patent-pending foxy smile.

"That makes two of us Angel." He replied. Tenten blushed, squealed, and rushed back into the store.

"How do you do that?" Haku asked.

"It's a gift." Naruto said modestly.

"Any chance you can teach me stuff like that?" Lee asked.

"Sorry Lee, you either got it or you don't." Naruto said and started to walk away. "Later guys. See you at home Haku."

"I'll see you around Lee." Haku said and started to leave. Lee nodded and went off to train.

_With Haku_

Haku walked through the streets of Konoha, taking in his new surroundings. He wished that Zabuza could have come with him. Ever since Haku had lost his mom and killed his dad, Zabuza had been the only thing that Haku could call a parent. But he was happy that Zabuza would probably be happy back in Wave. Especially if he was right about him and Tsunami.

Before Haku knew it, he had wandered into a training ground. It was silent and vacant, except for the sound of one person punching a nearby stump. A curious Haku slowly crept towards the source. He found a young woman with long pink hair punching a stump.

"I have to get stronger so I can keep being with Sasuke." The girl muttered.

"Put more of your hips into it." Haku suggested. The girl spun around to see him and saw that, aside from a large forehead, she had very pretty sea green eyes.

"What did you say?" she said.

"When you throw a punch, twist your hips a bit more." Haku said. "You'll get more power out of it that way." The girl looked at him but tried it and her eyes widened to see that he was right, that punch did feel stronger.

"Wow, thanks." She said.

"No problem." Haku waved it off. "I could help you with training if you want it."

"Really thanks, I was supposed to be on a team, but this jerk I was paired with ruined it." she said.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Haku said.

"Yeah, he even made this big speech there about how I would need to quit focusing on Sasuke if I wanted to be a real ninja." Sakura continued.

"Sasuke?" Haku asked. "The Uchiha?"

"You don't know who Sasuke is?" the girl asked, stunned.

"I'm new to the village." Haku explained. She nodded in understanding.

"Anyway, wanting to be close to Sasuke was the main reason I became a ninja." The girl said.

"If I may, that's a pretty petty reason." Haku said. "What about brining honor to your family, or protecting your home?"

"Well, I think by being with Sasuke I'd bring honor to my family by marrying into a strong clan." she said. "And by helping him revive his clan, I would be helping the village." Haku found himself scratching his head.

"Still seems kind of petty, but that's just me." He said with a shrug. "Anyway, if you're serious about being a strong ninja, then swing by my address and I'll help you out." He handed the girl a piece of paper with his address on it.

"Ok." she said, taking the paper. "My name is Sakura by the way."

"I'm Haku." Haku replied and left the clearing.

_That night with Naruto_

Naruto stood on the bridge in Konoha park, nervously spinning his hat around on his hand. Instead of his Hokage fedora, he wore a pure black one. He'd also swapped out his usual attire for black pants, a dark orange shirt, black vest and a black tie.

"Hello Naruto." Said Ino from behind him. Naruto turned around and started to put on his head, but froze half way to his head. Hinata was wearing a white kimono with a sky blue obi. Ino wore a tight, form fitting purple tress. Tenten wore a silver Chinese dress with a gold dragon wrapped around it.

"What do you think Naruto?" asked Hinata, blushing slightly. Naruto was just frozen, hat half way to his head, jaw dropped.

"You'll catch flies standing around like that." Tenten laughed and pushed his jaw up. It was enough to get Naruto to snap out of his daze. He shook his head and placed his hat on his head.

"Sorry, I was just stunned by the sight of three beautiful goddesses before me." Naruto said. The girls all giggled as Naruto created two clones. He three clones each took a girl by the arm.

"So, where are you taking us Naruto?" asked Ino. "Ichiraku's?"

"If this were just a lunch date, yes." The Naruto on her arm said. "But Kurenai-sensei recommended a place for us that isn't…bias of my condition." Each girl squeezed their Naruto's arm. They eventually found themselves in front of a humble little restraint called Cous Coussier. Upon entering the restraint, they thought they had somehow gone back a few decades in the west. The room was lit with grey light, making the whole restraint appear to be in black and white.

"Welcome to Cous Coussier." Said a woman sitting at the bar. She was wearing a pinstripe, two piece suit and wore a black fedora.

"Um, hi." Naruto said, his clones dispelling. "Are you Chiyoko Shiraishi?"

"And if I am?" the woman asked.

"Um, Kurenai Yuri recommended this place." Naruto said.

"Oh, you're friends of Kurenai!" Chiyoko said, her tough, hard-boiled demeanor changing into a cheerful and bubbly one. "I think I remember her saying that she recommended us to someone. Oh yes, Naruto Uzumaki, party of four."

"That's us ma'am." Naruto said.

"Please, call me Chiyoko." Chiyoko said with a smile. "Hana!" a young woman dressed as what Naruto thought was called a flapper girl walked in.

"Yes, Chiyoko?" she said.

"We have customers." Chiyoko said, indicating the Uzumaki party.

"Oh, please, let me show you to a table." Hana said, collecting some menus.

"Is it always like this around here?" Tenten asked.

"No we try to change things up every day or two." Hana explained.

"Wow, I might have to become a regular around here if that's the case." Ino said.

"I hope you do." Hana said with a smile. "Here's your table." She set the menus around a table. "I'll be back in a moment to take your orders."

"So Naruto," Tenten asked as they looked over the menus, which seemed to have everything they could think of, "How's life been treating you?"

"Aside from that damn council giving me and Haku trouble today, not bad." Naruto said. "Inari and Konohamaru are getting along well. To be honest, Inari and Haku are kind of like the brothers I never had."

"I'm happy for you Naruto." Hinata said, placing her hand on his.

"Thanks." Naruto said. "That reminds me, you girls might want to try hiding your diaries from your dads a bit better. They confronted me after that meeting about our date tonight." The girls all shook their heads at their father's actions.

"Are you all ready to order, or do you need more time?" Hana asked. Naruto glanced around and saw the girls were looking at him.

"I think we're ready." Naruto said. "I'll have the red bean soup please."

"I'll have the zenzai and 2 cinnamon rolls." Hinata said.

"Can I get the cherry tomatoes and pudding please?" Ino requested.

"And I'll have the sesame dumplings and some vegetable lo main with a side of fried rice please." Tenten finished.

"All right, I'll have your orders out in a while." Hana said. She then left the Kyubi-container/Kamen Rider and his three dates while she filled out the order.

"So, what have things been like for you three?" asked Naruto.

"Well my father is proud of my self-confidence boost since the last mission." Hinata said. "But now I'm worried about what's going to happen to my little sister."

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto.

"The whole main house/branch house thing right?' said Tenten. Hinata nodded.

"I think I remember dad talking about that." Ino said. "A kind of in-family slavery where the main house puts a controlling seal on its branch house members." Hinata nodded sadly.

"That's barbaric." Naruto said. "Why doesn't the Old Man do something about it?"

"it was established during Konoha's founding that inter-clan matters, like the Hyugas were to be out of the reach of the Hokage." Ino said. Naruto groaned and leaned back in his chair.

"Probably the Uchihas' idea." He mumbled. "Hinata, if it ever looks like you or your sister is in trouble, come to my house. Haku and I will protect you from those fossil bastards."

"We'll look out for you too Hinata." Tenten said. Ino nodded in agreement.

"Thank you everyone." Hinata said. Their food came and silence fell as they started to eat.

"So I heard from my grandpa that the Chunin Exams are coming up." Tenten said, striking up conversation again.

"The Chunin Exams huh?" Naruto said.

"I wonder if our senseis will enter us." Hinata said.

"I'm wondering what I'd have to do." Naruto said. "I mean I could always partner with Haku, but we'd still need a third. And I can't think of any genin in the village that we could actually be able to work with."

"What about Sakura and Sasuke?" Ino asked. Naruto looked at her like she'd sprouted a second head.

"You're kidding right?" he asked. "Sasuke is a pompous, egotistical bastard who only thinks of himself. And Sakura is just a pathetic excuse for a woman who sees nothing but Sasuke. Either one would just leave me for dead at the first chance they had."

"I don't know, Sakura said that she found someone to help her train." Ino said. "It actually sounded a lot Haku."

"Haku huh?" Naruto said. "Well if anyone can get here to see the light of being a ninja, it would be him." Soon after, their night ended and Naruto started to escort the girls home. Whenever they reached a cross roads, Naruto would create a clone to escort the girl home. When he got each home, he would kiss the girl's hand. They in turn would kiss him on the cheek. For Naruto, it was the best night of his life.

_Commercial Break_

_Naruto thought he was alone in the world, that he had no family. Well he was wrong. He did have family, 2 uncles. One a pirate, the other a traveler. Now both of his uncles have come to take Naruto away from Konoha. together they train him in their ancient arts, mixing their powers into a single body, creating a power that is both Super Sentai and Kamen Rider: The Kamen Sentai Gokiders._

_Kamen Sentai Gokaiders, out now._

_End Commercial._

_One month later_

It had been an interesting month for Naruto to say the least. Haku was now his assigned partner and the pair had been training and going on C and D Rank Missions with Kakashi. When they were free, Naruto would train Konohamaru and Inari. Or at least he would train their bodies. Haku was better at helping them with their schoolwork. The Hokage would stop by often as well and help the boys out

Speaking of students, Haku had taken Sakura under his wing so to speak. She had been surprised to find Naruto opening the door to the address Haku had given her. After explaining the situation, Sakura began her training under Haku. It turned out that with her low reserves, Sakura had perfect chakra control. In response to this knowledge, Haku started to teach her some medical jutsu and recommended she try to find someone to teach her genjutsu.

It was during this time that she actually got to know Naruto better. She became impressed by his attitude towards him and his way of teaching the boys. It was about a week after training with Haku the she began to notice the truth to what Naruto had said to her that day. It was a few days later that she humbled herself before Naruto.

"I'm sorry Naruto." She'd said. "I'm sorry for being such a bitch to you during school and for not listening to you that day during Kakashi-sensei's test." She had expected Naruto to berate her, but instead, he smiled.

"The past is the past Sakura," he'd said. "All we can do is work together for a better future." After that, Sakura started hanging out with Naruto and his girlfriends. Yeah, plural. After a lot of talking between them, everyone had agreed that Naruto would date Hinata, Tenten, and Ino. Some people, the Hyuga Elders and Ino's mother for example, weren't too thrilled about the idea, but the four of them were happy together and wouldn't let anyone get in the way of that. But just to make sure, Azulong Hiashi and Inoichi had reviled that there were marriage contracts betrothing their daughters to Naruto. The three said that they 'found' the contracts shortly after their daughters began dating the Uzumaki-Namikaze.

Naruto's heritage had come entirely to light. Many of the villagers were like those on the council and didn't accept him as the heir to the Namikaze name, but Naruto didn't care what they said. It was like he had told the civilian council: get on board, or get out of the way. He knew that now most if not all of his father's enemies would be gunning for him, but when the Hokage told him about this, Naruto's response was a simple on: Bring them on.

He wished he could say the same about the dozens of girls who started coming after Naruto though. After his heritage was reviled, several girls around Naruto's age started trying to seduce him. Mostly for political power and help better their own positions. However, if they had to get to Naruto, they'd have to get through his girlfriends. Let's just say after the first week, the girls all started to leave him alone.

And so the month passed and Naruto found himself in the Hokage's office side by side with Haku. Kakashi stood behind the Hokage's desk.

"Naruto, Haku," the Hokage addressed, "I have called you here because the Chunin exams are approaching."

"Yeah I heard about that." Naruto said. "You think Haku and I are ready for it?"

"I do," Kakashi said. "But the exams are made to be done in teams of three."

"So we can't enter unless we have a third teammate." Haku surmised.

"Correct." The Hokage said. "Can you think of a third person to join your team?" Naruto and Haku looked at one another.

"We could ask her." Haku said.

"You think she's ready?" asked Naruto.

"She's come a long way in the past month." Haku said. "It's up to her if she thinks she's ready."

"Then let's ask her." Naruto said.

"Excuse me." Kakashi said. "But who is her?"

"Lord Hokage, could you please summon Sakura Haruno here?" Haku said. The Hokage nodded while Kakashi went wide-eyed.

"Are you sure that's wise?' he asked.

"She's not the same girl you failed 2 months ago Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said. "With Haku, she's actually become a pretty competent ninja."

"Thank you Naruto." Sakura said as she entered the room.

_That was fast._ Naruto thought since they'd just called for her. Naruto took the sight of the girl in. She'd cut her hair so that it was now hung down to her shoulders. She had also traded her dress for a dark pink tank top and a black skort along with shinobi sandals. When she'd taken an interest in healing and genjutsu, she's started working at the Konoha hospital and Naruto and introduced her to Kurenai-sensei, who was able to help her with the basics of genjutsu.

"You summoned me Lord Hokage?" Sakura said, bowing to the village leader.

"Actually, these two summoned you." The Hokage explained, gesturing to Naruto and Haku.

"You see Sakura, Kakashi-sensei believes that Naruto and I are ready for the Chunin exams." Haku explained. "But in order for us to take it, we need a third member to our team."

"What we're asking is do you think you're ready to become a Chunin Sakura?" Naruto said. Sakura held her chin and lowered her head in thought. Everyone in the room was silent as the pinket contemplated her decision. Finally she sighed.

"I'm sorry Haku, Naruto, but, I just don't think I'm ready for something like the Chunin exams." Sakura said. Haku smiled and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"It's ok Sakura, you don't have to if you don't want to." He said. Sakura looked at him before she looked at Naruto. He just smiled at her and nodded.

"It's ok Sakura, Haku and I could just wait a little longer before becoming chunin." Naruto said.

"Actually, there is one other person who can be your third member." The Hokage said.

"Who could?" Naruto started before his eyes widened in realization. "Oh no, not him."

"I am afraid so." Kakashi said. "You know how _they_ get when it comes to him."

"What are you all talking about?" Haku asked. The door to the Hokage's office opened and in walked Sasuke Uchiha, a smug smirk and an air of arrogance around him.

"Haku Momochi, Sasuke Uchiha." Naruto introduced.

"Ah the Uchiha," Haku said. "You're right Naruto, I can tell just by looking at him he's a smug bastard."

"You should show me more respect." Sasuke said.

"Let's see, who here actually became a ninja, and who just became on by whining, moaning, and bitching to a bunch of power abusing old bastards." Haku said. Sasuke grit his teeth and tightened his fist.

"Please try something." Naruto said, narrowing his eyes.

"Enough." The Hokage said.

"For the Chunin Exam the three of you will work as a team." Kakashi said. "Please don't kill each other before hand."

"I promise nothing." Naruto said as he and Haku walked out, passing the Uchiha. Sakura followed them shortly after.

"I'm a little surprised you didn't turn into a squealing mess when you saw Sasuke Sakura." Naruto said.

"Training with Haku for this past month, it's made me see what a real ninja can be like." Sakura said. "And Sasuke, well, he just doesn't really seem like a good kind of ninja."

"Haku, you are definitely a good influence if you can get Sakura to start thinking like a ninja." Naruto said a smile. "Now we just have to get through the chunin exam without getting killed by Sasuke, or killing him. At least until we don't need him anymore."

"And when that time comes?" Sakura asked.

"Kick his ass preferably, kill him if necessary." Haku shrugged. "But that's only a last resort, right Naruto."

"Right." Naruto said. "I'll see you at home Haku." Naruto left the Hokage tower and started to wonder around the village. He turned down an ally and jumped onto the wall. A second later, a very convincing rock wondered into the ally.

"Nice job guys." Naruto said. The rock flipped over to reveal Konohamaru, Inari, their friends Mogi and Odon, and Hinata's little sister Hanabi. Since Naruto and Hinata had begun dating, he'd gotten close to his girlfriend's little sister. Inari had also found himself smitten with the younger Hyuga. He could often keep his wits about him around her, but would occasionally become a bumbling, stuttering mess.

"Haha, how did you know we were there?" asked Konohamaru.

"I saw that rock moving out of the corner of my eye." Naruto explained. "This your work Udon?" he asked, examining the rock.

"Yes sir." Udon said.

"Don't call me sir." Naruto said. "Naruto or sensei is fine though."

"Yes sensei." Udon said.

"I'm guessing Hanabi used her Byakugan to handle movement." Naruto continued. Hanabi nodded with a proud smile. "And what have we here?" Naruto pulled out some smoke bombs. "The Mogi Specials I presume."

"That's right." Mogi said proudly. Naruto returned the smile. "If I could take on 5 students, I would definitely want you guys. You've got the makings of a good infiltration team."

"Thanks bro." Inari said.

"I hope we're not interrupting the lesson Naruto-sensei." Ino said as she and Tenten entered the ally.

"No lesson today ladies." Naruto said. "Just congratulating these 5 for their impressive skills." Naruto said.

"Hey boss, is one of them your girlfriend?" asked Konohamaru.

"Both." Naruto clarified.

"I thought you were dating my sister." Hanabi said.

"He's dating all of us." Tenten clarified as she and Ino kissed Naruto's cheeks.

"You've got three girlfriends?" Mogi asked. Naruto noticed that she and Hanabi were looking a little annoyed.

"Now girls, I care about each of these three the same. And the fact that I'm dating them is their idea." Naruto said. "And guys, you should not take women for granted. They are princesses that deserve nothing but respect and near worship."

"Good advice Naruto-sensei." Tenten said, hugging him.

"I can see why you're dating the blond girl boss. She's gorgeous." Konohamaru said. "And if Hanabi's sister is as pretty as she is, plus I hear she's real sweet."

"Thank you Konohamaru." Ino said.

"But what's with the bun haired girl?" he asked. Tenten's eyes twitched. "I mean she doesn't have much in the chest and butt." Konohamaru continued. Tenten's fist tightened and her knuckles popped.

"Konohamaru, two things." Naruto said. "First, never judge a woman by appearance alone. Second, Tenten is the Mistress of all things sharp and pointy, and now that you've incurred her wrath, as your sensei, I order you to…RUN!" Konohamaru looked confused until he saw Tenten pull out a large number of kunai. His eyes widened and he took off running.

"You're going to make sure Tenten doesn't kill him right?" Inari asked.

"Of course." Naruto said and took off after them, the others followed him. Tenten meanwhile was trying to use Konohamaru for target practice, but the boy was incredibly agile ad dodging, thanks to some of Naruto's training. As he kept dodging, he accidently bumped into someone.

"Watch it you little brat." The person said and picked Konohamaru up by the front of his shirt.

"Konohamaru!" Tenten shouted.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted and landed in front of them. "Only chance bub put down my student and go back to raiding your sister's make-up drawer."

"You bastard, it's war paint!" the guy snapped.

"Yeah, whatever," Naruto brushed it off. "Just put down my student."

"He ran into me, so I think I should teach him a little lesson." The guy said.

"Just put him down Kankuro." The girl said. "You don't want _him_ to show up."

"Oh come on Temeri, he'll never know." Kankuro said.

"So, you're not going to put him down?" asked Naruto.

"You'll have to make me." Kankuro said. In a flash, Naruto was on him in an instant and punched him in the face. Tenten was there in a second and caught the boy.

"You ok Konohamaru?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm sorry for that stuff I said about you." He said.

"And I'm sorry I chased you." Tenten said.

"You son of a bitch," Kankuro growled and started to stand up, pulling his bundle off his back.

"You're not going to use that are you?" Temeri asked.

"Use whatever you like, I'll do whatever it takes to protect my students." Naruto said.

"Kankuro, that's enough." Said a voice that sounded like a growl and a hiss. The voice sent shivers up the Konoha nin's spines. Hanging upside-down from a nearby tree was a redhead with a board on his back and the kanji for 'love' on his forehead over his left eye.

"G-Gaara." Kankuro stuttered. "It's not my fault, this kid ran into me and,"

"Shut up," Gaara said, "or I'll kill you." The boy disappeared in a swirl of sand and reappeared with his, supposed, two teammates. "I apologize from my teammate's actions." He said.

"No problem." Naruto said. "But just so I'm clear, why are you Suna nin here?"

"We're here for the Chunin Exams of course." Temeri said.

"Just making sure." Naruto said. "So we'll probably see you in the exams." Naruto turned and started to leave.

"Wait." Gaara said. "What's your name?"

"Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze." He replied. "Remember it, it's the name of the Sixth Hokage." he pointed at the group with his patent-pending foxy smile.

"Namikaze?" Temari asked. "As in the Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage?"

"That's dad." Naruto said.

"What do you mean the Sixth Hokage?" Kankuro asked. "Who's the Fifth?"

"Don't know." Naruto admitted. "But there's probably gonna be someone between me and the Old Man." He shrugged it off. "Anyway, I'll see you in the exam." He left with his group.

"There was something off about that guy with the gourd." Ino said. "I'm only a beginner with the Yamanaka mental power, but I could tell there's something wrong with that guy."

"I agree." Naruto said. "If you come across him during the exam, be careful. And pass that along to your sister for me Hanabi."

"Yes, Naruto-sensei." Hanabi said.

The next day, Naruto and Haku made their way to the academy. Sasuke was waiting to them at the door.

"You're late." He growled.

"Sorry, this cat crossed our path while we were helping a little old lady take her groceries home." Naruto started.

"We had to go around it and ended up getting lost on the road of life." Haku finished. Sasuke stared at them strangely as they passed him. When they entered, Naruto and Haku had to laugh to each other.

"I see why Kakashi-sensei does this now, its fun." Naruto said. Haku nodded in agreement. Sasuke eventually caught up with them. As they reached the 2nd floor they found a large crowd of people huddled around a door marked 302.

"We're doing you guys a favor keeping you out of the Chunin Exams." One of the guys said.

"Yeah, we failed them last time." The other said. "The test is brutal." Naruto and Haku both saw threw the genjutsus. The one on the door and the ones that the two Chunins had cast on themselves to make them look like genin. Sasuke also noticed the genjutsu, or at least the one on the door. He was about to blab about it, but Naruto quickly noticed and punched him in the stomach. This got several people's attention.

"Sorry, our friend here has an upset stomach." Haku said quickly. "We're just passing through." The trio walked away from the crowd. When they were in the clear, Naruto threw Sasuke away.

"How dare you," he started.

"Shut up Uchiha." Naruto snapped. "You almost made things harder for us."

"The door obviously had a genjutsu on it." Haku said. "It was a pretest weed out anyone who wasn't really ready to be chunin."

"People like you." Naruto said. Sasuke growled but didn't say anything.

"Naruto!" shouted a voice. The temporary team 7 looked over and saw Lee standing before them.

"Hey Lee, what's up?" Naruto said.

"Is that Sasuke Uchiha, the rookie of the year for you class?" Lee asked.

"Unfortunately." Naruto muttered.

"Let me fight him." Lee requested.

_**All right, that's the end of this chapter. And now I have a few questions to you, my readers.**_

_**1. Should Sasuke get the Hicky from Hell, aka the Curse mark, from Orochimaru or should the combined power of Haku and Kamen Rider Kurama be enough to keep him back.**_

_**2. If anyone has any fight requests for the prelims, I'm open to hearing them. It will be the same lineups, just replace Haku with Sakura. Also, should Kabuto's team fight in the prelims? As well as Kabuto himself?**_

_**There are a couple requirements for 2 though: a couple things have to remain cannon.**_

_**a. the Naruto vs. Neji fight in the finals needs to stay cannon b/c it's a big character development for Neji.**_

_**b. Kabuto's teammates have to loose, that's just a given.**_

_**All right, that's it for that. Also, if anyone is thinking that there would be a new Kamen Rider appearing, it will be happening soon. Well, it'll be happen during the Invasion of Konoha Arc, and you'll be surprised who it is.**_

_**Also, bonus points if you noticed the shout outs to previous Kamen Rider series. And please, pass that message along.**_

_**READ AND REVIEW! please**_


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